' 


From,  mfi 


THE 


SCANDINAVIAN  RACES 


THE  NORTHMEN; 
THE  SEA-KINGS  AND  VIKINGS. 


THEIR    MANNERS     AND    CUSTOMS,    DISCOVERIES, 

MARITIME  EXPEDITIONS,  STRUGGLES,  AND 

WARS,  UP  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


BY 

PAUL    C.    SINDING, 

Hon.   MEMBER  OF  THE  QUEBEC  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


NEW  YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    THE    AUTHOR 
1875. 


V" 


PREFACE. 


Although   I   soon    learned    by   experience, 
after    my   arrival   in   the  city   of  New   York, 
what   indeed   had   been  long  before   reported 
to   me,   that  the    enlightened   people   of    the 
United  States  pay  great  attention  to   science 
and  the  arts,  and  specially  among  their  intel- 
lectual  pursuits,  have   explored  some  of   the 
wide  fields  of  history  with  zeal  and  success, 
I   was    yet    almost    immediately  aware    that 
Scandinavian    affairs — the    past    history   and 
present   condition  of  a  kindred  people — were 
too  little  known  in  this  country.      Indeed  by 
that  ardent  love  of  my  native  land,  which  might 
well  prompt  me  to  effort  in  such  a  case,  and 
which  is  a  feeling  said  to  be  peculiarly  strong 


250195 


VI  PREFACE. 

in  the  race  of  the  Northmen,  I  resolved,  as  far 
as  lay  in  my  power,  to  throw  some  light  on  this, 
here,  almost  terra  incognita,  by  writing  a  brief 
history  of  the  people  of  Scandinavia — a  people 
and   a    land   neither  unknown   nor   undistin- 
guished in  the  history  of  the  past,   having  not 
only  played  an  important  part  in  the  history  of 
Europe,  being  even  at  one  time  the  arbiter  of 
the  European  system,  but  having  also  amongst 
their  archives  authentic  records   of  early  voy- 
ages of  adventure  and  discovery  extending  to 
this  new  Western  world,  even  as  much  as  five 
centuries  before  Columbus  reached  St.  Salvador 
or  Guanahany.     But  while  thus  making  refer- 
ence to  these  interesting  traditions,  which  trace 
the  discovery  of  this  great  western  continent 
to  the  hardy  and  adventurous  "  Kings  of  the 
Northern  Sea,"  let  me  not  be  understood  as  say- 
ing that  these  traditions,  though  certainly  exist- 
ing, and  possibly  even  well  known  to  Columbus 
himself,    when  he    undertook  his  remarkable 
voyage,  have  at  all  eclipsed  the  splendor  which 
never  will  cease  to  invest  the  name  of  this  un- 
exampled discoverer. 

Should  the  result  of   my  labor — the  work 


PREFACE.  Vll 

which  I  here  offer  only  as  an  Introduction  to 
the  History  of  Scandinavia — be  found  calcu- 
lated to  promote  even  a  little  interest  in  the 
subject,  my  desire  and  purposes  will  be  fully 
realized. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PROF.  PAUL  C.  SINDING. 

My  Dear  Sir: 
The  Scandinavian  peninsulas — one  hanging  down  from  the  mys- 
terious North,  the  other  jutting  forth  from  the  central  mass  of 
civilized  Europe,  to  meet  its  comrade — are  emblematic  (in  their 
geographical  position)  of  the  twofold  historic  interest  with  which 
they  are  clothed.  While  the  legendary  period  of  other  peoples 
occupies  a  place  subordinate  to  their  clearer  history,  Scandinavia 
calls  up  before  us,  with  equal  power,  the  mist-robed  Odin  and  the 
mail-clad  Vasa.  The  strange  adventures  amid  Northern  seas,  in  a 
primitive  age,  are  as  prominent  as  the  leadership  of  European  poli- 
tics in  an  age  of  remarkable  light.  We  oddly  mingle  the  old  and 
the  new,  the  dim  and  the  bright,  when  we  turn  to  Scandinavia,  as 
we  do  with  no  other  land.  This  double  character  naturally  lends 
peculiar  attraction  to  its  history.  Yet,  with  all  this  attraction,  the 
history  of  no  part  of  Europe  is  less  familiar  to  the  general  mind ; 
probably  because  the  Scandinavian  countries  lie  somewhat  off  from 
the  world's  great  highways,  and  participate  but  moderately  in 
the  world's  chief  commerce.  This  should  not  be.  The  ignorance 
is  a  fault,  especially  among  us  of  English  descent,  whose  ancestral 
history  is  so  intimately  and  variously  associated  with  that  of  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  and  Norway.  The  Norsemen  have  left  the  memo- 
rials of  their  habitation  on  the  coasts  and  islands  of  Scotland, 
where  Runic  inscriptions  tell  the  story  of  their  prowess,  while 
through  much  of  England  the  familiar  names  of  towns  and  hamlets 
are  purely  Norse.  These  are  the  fruits  of  the  wild  adventures  of  the 
Vikings.  A  Danish  dynasty  once  ruled  our  fatherland,  and  the  Con- 
queror who  founded  the  present  succession  of  British  monarchs, 

was  himself  of  Scandinavian  blood,  transplanted  to  a  more  southern 

9 


X  LETTER  FROM  PROFESSOR  CROSBY. 

clime.  The  stalwart  men,  who  could  venture  upon  unknown,  cold, 
and  stormy  seas,  in  their  small  barks,  on  lengthy  voyages,  until 
passing  the  new-found  shores  of  Iceland,  they  landed  among  the 
green  leaves  of  the  Viinland  coast,  deserve  to  be  known  and  saluted 
by  every  succeeding  age. 

And  their  posterity,  still  maintaining  the  best  characteristics  of 
the  fathers,  invite  our  regard  and  claim  our  encomiums.  The  names 
of  Tegner,  Hans  Andersen,  Fredericka  Bremer,  in  literature  ;  of 
Clausen,  Madvig,  and  Rafn,  in  theological,  philological,  and  archae- 
ological research  ;  of  Thorvaldsen  in  art.  and  of  Gle  Bull  and  Jenny 
Lind  in  music,  are  as  household  words  in  our  American  homes. 
Our  merited  regard  for  these  well  known  worthies  of  our  own  day, 
must  render  keener  our  appetite  for  Scandinavian  knowledge.  This 
appetite  amounts  to  a  necessity,  when  we  mark,  that  our  ancestral 
jistory  and  mythology,  and  our  composite  philology,  must  be  eluci 
dated  by  the  light  of  these  chronicles  and  languages  of  the  Norse 
men. 

It  is,  therefore,  full  time  that  our  Universities  should  have  their 
chairs  of  Scandinavian  literature,  as  a  needful  part  of  the  apparatus 
for  a  thorough  English  education,  to  render  more  complete  the  ex 
amination  of  the  roots  of  our  speech  and  race.     While  this  want  is 
felt,  we  may  gladly  hail  any  contribution  to  American  literature 
which  tends  to  open  this  interesting  field  of  research.     In  your  vol 
ume,  my  dear  sir,  I  recognize  such  a  pioneer,  and  rejoice  to  give  ' 
welcome.    In  it  may  many  laggards  in  this  lore  find  an  introduc 
tion  to  the  old  romantic  legends  of  the  Skalds,  as  well  as  to  th 
more  recent  but  no  less  romantic  stories  of  the  great  and  magnani 
mous  Gustavus  Vasa,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  the  brilliant  comets 
Tordenskjold  (Thundershield)  and  Charles  the  Twelfth 

HOWARD  CROSBY,  D.  D., 

Chancelor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 


SUMMARY   OP   CONTENTS. 


The  Origin  of  the  People — Mythology — Language — Skalds  or  Bards 
— Runes— The  Warfaring  Life — Piracy — Duels — Foster-brother 
Covenant  —  State  and  Condition  of  the  Female  Sex  —  Means  of 
getting  a  Livelihood  by — Victuals  —  Trade  —  Dwelling-places  — 
Weapons  —  Funeral  Solemnities  —  State  Affairs  —  King  —  Pea- 
sants and  Prefects  —  Slaves  —  Viking  Expeditions  —  The  Oldest 
Kings Page  19-49 

First  Period,  from  A.  D.  811-1241. 

1.  Promulgation  of  the  Gospel  by  Ansgarius  —  Gorm  the  Old  and 
his  Queen  Thyra  Danuebod  —  Harold  Bluetooth  —  Christianity — 
Civil  War — Palnatoke — Swen  Splitbeard — Viking  Association  — 
Battle  by  Svolder — Conquest  of  England — Harold — Canute  the 
Great  —  England  and  Denmark  united  —  Pilgrimage  to  Rome  — 
Battle  by  Helge-lliver — Ulf  Jarl  (Earl) — Conquest  of  Norway — 
The  Discovery  of  America  by  the  Northmen  —  The  Union  with 
England  ceases 50-86 

'2.  Magnus  the  Good — Swen  Estrithson — Expedition  to  England — 
Ecclesiastical  Affairs — Canute  the  Pious — New  Expedition  against 
England — Eric  the  Good — Expedition  to  Venden — Canonization 
of  Canute  the  Pious — Canute  Lavard — Nicholas — Civil  War  be- 
tween Swen  Grathe,  Canute  Magnusson,  and  Waldemar — Frede- 
rick Barbarossa —  Battle  on  Grathe-heath  in  Jutland  87-108 

2.  Waldemar  I.  the  Great  —  Absalon  —  Canute  VI.  —  Bugislaw,  of 
Pomerania — Waldemar  II.  the  Conqueror — Conquests  along  the 
Baltic — E«thonia — The  Captivity  of  the  King — Science  and  the 
Arts  , 109-180 

(xi) 


XU  SUMMARY    OF    CONTENTS. 

Second  Period,  from  A.  D.  1241-1536,  the  Introduction  of  the 
Reformation. 

1.  Eric  Ploughpenning — Expedition  to  Esthonia — Abel — Christo- 
pher I. — Conflict  with  the  Clergy — Archbishop  Jacob  Erlandson 
— Interdict — Eric  Glipping — Battle  on  Loheath — "War  with  "Nor- 
way— Eric  Menved — The  Regicides — Archbishop  John  Grand — 
Peace  with  Norway — Expedition  to  Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg 

— The  Hanseatic  League  131-1 4c 

2.  Christopher  II. — Charter — War  with  Geert,  Count  of  Holstein — 
Battle  on  Tapheath — Niels  Ebbeson — Waldemar  IV.,  Atterdag — 
Insurrection  in  Jutland  —  Magnus  Smek  of  Sweden  —  War  with 
the  Hanseatic  Towns — Rebellion — Waldemar  leaves  the  country 
— Olaf — Queen  Margarethe  (the  Semiramis  of  the  North) — King 
Albrecht  of  Sweden — The  Battle  at  Falk6ping  in  Sweden — The 
celebrated  Union  of  Calmar 145-167 

3.  Queen  Margarethe  —  Attempts  to  regain  Schleswig  —  Eric  of 
Pomerania — Dispute  about  Schleswig — War  with  the  Hanseatic 
Towns — Rebellion  in  Sweden — Engelbrechtson — Charles  Canut- 
son — Dethronement  of  the  King  in  Denmark  and  Sweden — Chris- 
topher of  Bavaria  acknowledged  King  of  all  three  Kingdoms  — 
Rebellion  of  the  Peasantry 168-182 

4.  The  House  of  Oldenburg — Christian  I,  the  first  King  of  the  House 
of  Oldenburg — Charles  Canutson — Archbishop  Jens  Bengtson — 
Steno  Sture,  the  Elder  —  Battle  on  Brunkehill  —  Pilgrimage  to 
Rome — University  of  Copenhagen — The  Charter  of  King  Hans 
(John) — Division  of  the  Duchies — Expedition  to  Ditmarsh — Re- 
bellion in  Sweden  and  Norway  —  War  again  with  the  Hans"e 
Towns — Christian  II.  the  Tyrant — Expedition  against  Sweden — 
Archbishop  Gustav  Trolle— The  Slaughter  of  Stockholm— Sigbrit- 
Dyveke — Torben  Oxe — The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation — Re- 
bellion— The  King  flees — Frederick  I. — Civil  War — Rebellion  in 
Skane — S6ren  Norby — The  Reformation  spreads — John  Tausen 
— Diet  of  Odensee — Diet  of  Copenhagen — The  War  of  the  Count 
— Christian  111. — Shipper  Clemens — Battle  by  Oxenhill — Litera- 
ture and  Language 183-236 

Third  Period,  from  A.  D.  1536-1660;  the  acknowledgment  of 
Lutheranism  until  the  Introduction  of  Absolute  Sovereignty. 
1.   Christian  III — Diet  of  Copenhagen — Charter — The   Reforma- 
tion introduced  into  Iceland — Intolerance — University  and  School 


SUMMARY    OF    CONTENTS.  Xlll 

Affairs — Alliance  with  Sweden — New  Division  of  the  Duchies — 
Frederick  II.  —  Conquest  of  Ditmarsh  —  Three  Crowns — The 
Northern  Seven  Years'  War  —  Daniel  Ranzau —  Peace  in  Stettin 
— Peter  Oxen  —  Foundation  of  Kronborg  —  The  Sound  Dues  — 
Liibeck — Hamburg — Science  and  Arts — Henrik  Ranzau — Tycho 
Brahe — Christian  IV. — The  Queen-Dowager  Si^hia  of  Mecklen- 
burg— Guardianship — Peasantry — Nobility  237-266 

Christian  IV.  — Care  and  Interest  for  Norway —  Variance  with 
Sweden — Calmar  War — Peace  at  Kncer6d — He  encourages  Science 
and  the  Arts — Commercial  Affairs — Discoveries — Ptegulation  of 
the  Post  Affairs^ Manufactures — Buildings — Participation  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War — Battle  by  Lutter,  near  the  Barenberg — Peace 
of  Liibeck — Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden  plays  a  prominent  part 
in  the  Thirty  Years'  War — Dissatisfaction  amongst  the  Peasantry 
and  Burgher  Class  with  the  Aristocracy — Dispute  with  Hamburg 
--^ound  Dues  at  Elsenore  —  War  with  Sweden  —  Inroad  of  the 
Swedish  General,  Torstenson  —  Battle  of  Colberg  by  Femern  — 
Danish  National  Song  —  Peace  of  Bromsebro  —  Frederick  III  — 
Election  of  King — The  Charter — Alliance  with  Holland — Corfitz 
Ulfeldt  —  Rupture  with  Sweden  —  Peace  of  Roeskilde — Renewal 
of  the  War — Siege  of  Copenhagen — The  Dutch  Admiral  Opdam 
— Battle  at  Nyborg — Peace  of  Copenhagen  266-3.0] 

Fourth  Period,  from  A.  D.  1660-1863  ;  (from  the  introduction  of 
the  Absolute  Sovereignty  till  the  conclusion  of  the  War  with  the 
rebellious  Duchies. ) 

Frederick  III. — The  Diet  of  Copenhagen — The  Charter  annihil- 
ated, and  Absolute  Sovereignty  introduced — Kay  Lykke — Corfitz 
Ulfeldt — Eleonora  Christina — Dispute  with  Christian  Albrecht  of 
Gottorp — Christian  V — Acquisition  of  Oldenburg  and  Delmen- 
horst  —  War  with  Sweden  and  France  —  Admiral  Niels  Juel  — • 
Peace  of  Lund  and  Fontainebleau — Griffeufeldt — Ole  R6mer — 
The  Peasantry — Olaf  Rosenkranz — Masius  and  Bagger — Frede- 
rick IV. — War  with  the  Duke  of  Gottorp — Peace  of  Travendal — 
Eleven  Years'  War  with  Sweden — The  Brilliant  Comets  Charles XII. 
of  Sweden,  and  the  Danish  Admiral  Thundershield  (Tordenskjold) 
— Peace  of  Fredericksborg — Hostile  Terms  with  Russia — Hans 
Egede  christianizes  Greenland — Science  and  the  Arts — Christian 

VI. — The  Peasantry  —  Ecclesiastical  Affairs — School  Affairs  — 
Science  and  the  Arts — The  Navy — Count  Danneskjold  Sams6 — 


XIV  SUMMARY    OF    CONTENTS. 

Frederick  V — Hostile  Terms  with  Russia — Peter  III.  of  Russia 
murdered — Manufactures— Commercial  and  Financial  state— The 

Peasantry  —  Science  and  the  Arts  302-381 

2.  Christian  VII. — Alterations  among  the  Higher  Officers  of  State 
— Cere  for  the  Peasantry — The  King's  going  abroad — Struensee 
and  Brandt  beheaded — The  Queen  banished — Ove  Guldberg — The 
Queen-dowager  Juliane  Marie  —  Prince  Frederick  —  Deed  of  Ex- 
change with  Russia — A.  P.  Bernstorff—  The  Armed  Neutrality— 
The  Finances — The  Press — The  Peasantry — Care  for  the  Danish 
Language  and  Literature — The  Charter  of  Naturalization — Crown 
Prince  Frederick,  afterwards  Frederick  VI.  —  A.  P.  Bernstorff — 
Henrik  Stampe  —  Reventlow  —  C.  Colbj6rnson  —  Hostilities  with 
Sweden — Neutrality  during  the  French  Revolutionary  War — In- 
dependence of  the  United  States  acknowledged  by  Sweden  and 
Denmark  —  Tripoli  —  Hostilities  with  England  —  Renewal  of  the 
Armed  Neutrality — The  Horrible  Battle  of  the  Baltic— Copenha- 
gen cruelly  bombarded,  and  the  fleet  carried  away  —  War  with 
Sweden — Peace  of  J6nk6ping — Prince  Christian  August  of  Au- 
gustenburg  —  His  Death  —  Charles  John  Bernadotte,  Prince  of 
Pontecorvo,  elected  Crown-prince  of  Sweden ;  later,  King  of 
Sweden — He  dies — Oscar  L  King  of  Sweden,  died  1859,  and  Carl 
XV.  ascends  the  Throne — War  with  Sweden,  Russia,  and  Prussia 
— Alliance  with  France — Fierce  Fight  at  Sehestedt  in  Schleswig — 
Norway  granted  a  Free  Constitution  from  the  Danish  Prince,  Chris- 
tian Frederick — Denmark  loses  Norway  forever  in  the  Peace  of 
Kiel  —  Emancipation  of  the  Peasantry  from  Feudal  Bondage  — 
Other  important  alterations  in  different  branches  of  the  Govern- 
ment— Care  of  the  King  for  Public  Instruction — University  and 
School  Affairs — Literature — Pecuniary  Affairs — Representative 
Council  given  Denmark  and  the  Duchies  —  Christian  VIII.  — 
School  Affairs  in  Copenhagen  and  in  the  Country — Iceland — The 
Danish  East  India  Possessions  disposed  of — Care  for  the  Danish 
Language  in  the  Northern  part  of  Schleswig — Railroads — Frede- 
rick VII.  —  He  gives  Denmark  a  Free  Constitution  —  Horrible 
War  with  the  rebellious  Duchies — Treaty  in  London — Marriage 
of  the  Princess  Alexandra  with  the  Prince  of  Wales — Death  of 
Frederic  VII.  and  accession  of  Christian  IX.  to  the  Crown — The 
Second  Schleswig-Holstein  War — Review  of  the  Succession — 
Dispute — Austrian-Prussian  Invasion — The  Danish  Army  over- 
powered evacuates  the  Duchies — Their  Cession — Peace  Con- 
cluded—The Discovery  of  Iceland  and  its  Millenial  Celebra- 
tion   382-471-476 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 


There  is  a  wide  difference  between  History  and  Philo- 
sophy.    History  is  the  delineation  from  the  past  and  the 
present  of  both  the  active  and  the  passive  forces,  and  intel- 
ligence of  human  nature  and  human  action.     Philosophy 
excludes  from  its  consideration  human  action,  and  deals 
with  thought  as  referable  to  reason  alone.      History  in- 
forms us  of  the  product  of  human  passion  and  thought. 
Philosophy  considers  the  latter  undisturbed  by  the  weak- 
ness of  the  former.      But,  nevertheless,  if  the  cultivator 
of  History  is  not  guided  by  Philosophy,  or  the  rules 
of  reason,  History  will  to  him  be  only  a  barren  act  of 
memory,  without   life  or  nourishment   for   the    under- 
standing  and  heart ;  in  short,  History  will  not  be  a 
science  to  him ;   he  will  not  clearly   comprehend  the 
consequences  of  events  in  their  pragmatical  connection 
"  It   little  concerns  us  to  know,"   says   Rollin,   "  that 
there  were  once  such  men  as  Genghis-Khan,  Caesar 
Alexander,  Grustavus  Adolphus,  Napoleon,  Washington, 
and  so  on,  and  that  they  lived  in  this  or  that  period, 
or  died  in  this  or  that  day ;  but  it  highly  concerns  us 
to  know  the  steps  by  which  they  rose  to  the  exalted 


16  INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

pitch  of  grandeur  we  cannot  but  admire,  what  it  was 
that  constituted  their  glory  and  felicity,  what  were  the 
causes  of  their  declension  and  fall,  and  how  in  religious 
and  moral  respects  they  have  influenced  their  own  and 
after-ages ;  all  of  which  we  cannot  obtain  but  by  Phi- 
losophy, or  more  properly,  by  the  Philosophy  of  History, 
through  which  we  ascertain  the  causes  of  things  or 
their  phenomena.  History  itself  is  immense  in  refer- 
ence to  compass,  circumference,  and  contents.  A 
boundless  ocean  of  facts  and  events  lies  behind  us, 
while  each  day  and  each  hour  the  stream  of  time  is 
swelling  in  new  and  large  billows  of  events,  visions,  and 
names ;  all  of  which,  seen  in  the  light  of  truth  and 
pragmatical  connection,  are  of  exceeding  interest  and 
use.  And  of  such  great  interest  and  use  is  the  His- 
tory of  the  Scandinavian  Kingdoms,  taken,  as  all  His- 
tory must  be,  in  due  connection  with  the  contempora- 
neous History  of  other  lands.  This  History  is  that  of 
a  brave  and  interesting  people,  which,  on  a  large  scale, 
has  influenced  the  world,  and  is  yet  so  little  known  to 
the  United  States,  and  even,  I  am  told,  to  the  mass 
of  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  A  talented  young 
American  wrote,  a  few  years  ago,  an  eloquent  arti- 
cle in  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  inscribed  "  Scan- 
dinavian   History, — a    Work    Wanted,"    wherein    he 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS.  17 

says :  "  There  is  a  nation,  even  now  extant,  possess- 
ing as  brave  a  History  as  that  of  the  Romans,  as 
poetic  as  that  of  the  Greeks;  a  nation  that  has  con- 
trolled the  World's  History  in  many  things,  and  at 
many  times,  and  whose  achievements  in  war  and  in 
letters,  are  worthy  the  most  heroic  age  of  Rome  and  the 
most  finished  period  of  Greece ;  a  nation  whose  Philo- 
sophy outran  their  age,  and  anticipated  results  that 
have  been  slowly  occurring  ever  since.  This  reference," 
he  says,  "  can  be  true  of  but  one  people,  and  that 
people  is  the  Norsemen,  the  dwellers  in  Scandinavia, 
who  lived  as  heroes,  lords,  and  conquerors ;  who,  sailing 
out  of  the  ice  and  desolation  in  which  they  were  born 
and  nurtured,  conquered  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  ; 
ravaged  Brittany  and  Normandy ;  discovered  and  colo- 
nized Iceland  and  Greenland;  and  they  can  be  said, 
with  confidence,  to  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  their 
crazy  barks,  and  to  have  discovered  this  very  conti- 
nent, before  Columbus,  to  have  anchored  in  Vineyard 
Sound,  and  left  a  monument  behind  them ;  and  where- 
soever they  went,  they  went  as  lords  and  rulers.  And 
then  their  religion,"  he  continues — "  what  a  wild, 
massive,  manly  mythology!  With  nothing  of  the  soft 
sentimentalities  of  more  southern  people,  but  continent 
of  much  that  revelation  has  assured  us  to  be  true  in 


18  INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 

doctrine — preaching  ever  the  necessity  of  right,  and 
doing  right — of  manliness,  honesty  and  responsibility 
rewards  and  punishments."  And  he  thus  concludes: 
"  Is  there  not  some  one  who  will  plunge  in  medias  res, 
and,  bringing  order  out  of  confusion,  give  us  this  so 
greatly  desiderated  History  of  Scandinavia  ?" 

These  eloquent  words,  a  correspondence  with  the 
talented  writer,  and  later,  an  interview  with  him,  have 
inspired  me,  a  native  Dane,  having  completed  my 
studies  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  and  im- 
bued with  patriotic  feelings,  with  a  mind  and  cour- 
age to  plunge  in  medias  res,  and  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  to  do  justice  to  that  undeniably  interesting  sub- 
ject. Jacta  est  alea,  and  I  will  commence  by  describing 
the  state  and  condition  of  Denmark,  in  the  most  ancient 
times,  until  the  Provincial  Territories  were  united,  and 
Christianity  began  to  be  promulgated  by  Ansgarius,  a 
learned  and  pious  monk  from  Westphalia,  in  Germany. 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIA. 


Tbe  Origin  of  the  People — Mythology  and  Public  Worship — Language — 
Skalds  or  Bards — Runes — The  Warfaring  Life  of  the  People — Piracy 
— Duels — Foster-brother  Covenant — State  and  Condition  of  the  Female 
Sex — Means  of  getting  a  livelihood  by — Victuals — Trade — Dwelling- 
places — Weapons — Funeral  Solemnities — State  Affairs — King — Peasants 
and  Prefects — Slaves — Norse  Expeditions — The  Oldest  Kings. 

The  present  inhabitants  of  Denmark,  as  well  as  of 
Norway  and  Sweden,  are  successors  of  the  enormous 
Gothic  tribe  formerly  dwelling  round  about  the  Black 
Sea  and  the  Sea  of  Azov,  to  which  district  this  tribe 
seems  to  have  come  from  yet  more  eastern  regions, 
afterwards  wandering  up  to  the  northern  coasts  of  the 
Baltic,  whence  the  one  branch  of  the  Gothic  tribe 
departed  to  the  opposite  tracts  of  Scandinavia,  peopling 
and  settling  the  southern  part  of  Sweden,  Skane,  Hal- 
land,  and  Bleking,  the  Danish  islands,  together  with  the 
northern  part  of  the  Jutlandish  peninsula,  and  likewise 
spreading  itself  over  the  greater  part  of  Norway. 
The  other  branch  of  these  ancient  and   distinguished 

G-oths  remained   south  of  the   Baltic,    and  oftentimes 

(19) 


20  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

changing  their  dwellings,  afterwards  prevailed  in  Ger 
A.  d.,    many,    scattering   under    the    great    European 
375-    emigration  over  a  great  part  of  southern  Europe, 
Greece,   Italy,    Spain,   Portugal   and   France,   making 
considerable  conquests,  and  even  often  exacting  tribute 
a.  d.,    Divided  here  into   Ostro   and  Visi-Goths,  they 
493-    erected,  under  their  chief  leader,   Theodorik,  the 
Ostrogothic   kingdom   in  Italy,  and  the  Visigothic   in 
a.  d.(    Spain    under  Astulph,  and  their  influence  and 
423-    that  of  their  descendants  have  since  been  per- 
manent in    Europe  and  the  world.      On  the   southern 
borders  of  Denmark,  in  the  present  Duchy  of  Holstein, 
dwelt  the   Saxons,   belonging  to  the   German  Goths ; 
higher  up  in  Schleswig  and  in  the  southern  and  western 
part   of  Jutland   dwelt    the    Angles    and    Jutlanders, 
forming,  in  a  certain  way,  an  intermediate  line  between 
the  Scandinavian  and  German  Goths.     But  as  a  great 
A.  d.,   number  of  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutlanders,  in  the 
449-     middle  of  the  fifth  century,  led  by  the  brothers, 
Hengist   and   Horst,  departed  for   England,    founding 
there  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  the  more  northern  Goths 
settling  in  the  regions  which  those  had  left,  were  after- 
wards the  prevailing  tribe  in  all  Jutland  and  Schleswig. 
On  the  entrance  of  the  Goths   into   Scandinavia,   the 
land  was  inhabited  by  two  reciprocally  kindred  nations, 
whose  present  names  are  Laplanders  and  Finns.     Both 
of  them  had  come  from  the  east,  but  the  Laplanders 
were  forced  by  the  Finns  up  to  the  remotest  parts  of 


HISTORY    OP     SCANDINAVIA.  21 

Norway  and  Sweden,  where  remnants  of  them  are  yet 
to  be  found.  The  Finns  themselves  were,  after  a 
valiant  resistance,  pressed  back  by  the  G-oths,  whose 
descendants  at  present  live  in  Finland,  which  now 
belongs  to  the  Russian  Empire.  It  is  also  possible  that 
some  Celtic  tribes,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the 
south  and  west  of  Europe,  have  lived  in  the  Scandi- 
navian countries.  The  culture  of  the  oldest  dwellers  of 
the  north  was  at  a  very  low  ebb ;  they  lived  dispersed, 
rambling  about  the  immense  and  impenetrable  forests, 
and  on  the  coasts  adjacent  to  the  ocean  and  the 
numerous  lakes,  many  of  which  are  now  transformed 
into  moors  and  marshy  land,  or  dried  up  altogether. 
Grame  from  the  forests,  and  fish  from  the  sea  and  lakes, 
supplied  the  inhabitants  with  nutriment  and  hides  and 
furs  to  protect  their  bodies  against  the  severe  climate ; 
and  in  such  respects  they  were  very  well  off,  wanting 
nothing  fortune  could  supply.  Their  weapons  and 
hunting-tools  were  stones,  but  often  made  with  curious 
and  admirable  workmanship — the  use  of  metals  being 
yet  unknown. 

Yery  interesting,  deep,  and  instructive  is  the  religion 
01  the  mythology  of  the  Norsemen,  wherein  their  char- 
acter and  peculiar  views  of  life  have  received  a  proper 
embodiment,  containing  much  of  the  spirit  of  obedience, 
for  which  St.  Paul  praises  the  heathens  that  are  without 
the  law,  but  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  ill  the 
law,  showing  the  work  of  the   law  written  in  their 


22  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

hearts.  Their  religion,  better,  perhaps,  called  their 
mythology,  announced  also  clearly  the  important  doc- 
trine of  future  responsibility — rewards  and  punishments. 
At  all  events,  it  was  great,  nervous,  and  poetic,  and, 
in  many  respects,  fit  for  facilitating  the  introduction  of 
the  higher  light  of  Revelation,  which  first  in  the  ninth 
century  was  brought  to  them.  In  the  abyss  of  ages — ■ 
thus  read  the  old  Sagas — all  was  without  form  and  life, 
and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  on  which 
B.  c,  the  warmth  was  continually  operating,  until 
70-  Ymer,  a  giant  sprang  forth.  But  Odin,  a 
Scandinavian  Deity,  yet  supposed  to  be  a  historical 
person,  having  come  from  Asgard  on  the  river  Don 
(Tanais)  in  southern  Russia,  killed  Ymer  and  his  whole 
offspring ;  the  bad  and  evil  letters  and  Thyrsers  (giants) 
were  drowned  in  that  stream  of  blood  proceeding  and 
flowing  from  Ymer's  corpse,  except  one,  who  propagated 
the  generation  of  Jetters  or  Thyrsers,  and  lived  in  con- 
tinual enmity  with  gods  and  men.  Of  Ymer's  body — 
thus  read  the  old  Sagas — Odin  moulded  and  framed  the 
ordained  and  settled  world  with  mountains,  rivers,  lakes, 
trees,  and  clouds  ;  and  of  the  great  ash-tree,  Yggdrasill, 
whose  topmost  branches  were  said  to  dance  eternally  in 
the  heavenly  light,  he  moulded  the  first  couple  of  men, 
Askur  and  Embla,  who  resided  in  Midgard.  The 
gods  themselves  live  in  Asgard,  close  by  Upsala,  in 
Sweden.  Odin,  superior  to  all  the  other  gods,  is  father 
of  gods  and  men,  and  rules  the  whole  world,  which  he, 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  23 

by  his  wise  and  judicious  eye,  contemplates  and  views 
from  his  high  Hlidskjalf,  his  heavenly  seat,  his  royal 
palace.  The  peculiar  Grod  of  War  and  Thunder  is  Thor, 
a  son  of  Odin,  most  ardently  worshipped  by  the  warlike 
Norsemen,  and  kept  long  in  memory  even  after  the 
other  gods  were  thrown  into  oblivion.  He  being  consi- 
dered the  good  principle,  and  chosen  to  bruise  the  head 
of  all  the  evil  principles,  is  incessantly  fighting  with 
the  Jetters,  slaying  them  with  his  hammer,  the  heavy 
Mjolnir.  The  brave  having  found  an  honorable  death 
on  the  battle  field  were  taken  up  to  the  mansion  of  the 
gods,  and  came  to  the  splendid  castle,  Valhalla,  radia- 
ting with  shining  shields  and  glittering  swords,  and 
where  Odin,  Thor,  Freia,  Frigga,  and  the  Nomas, 
with  their  irrevocable  decrees,  were  assembled.  Odin's 
maidens,  the  Valkyriers,  were  continually  rushing 
through  the  ether,  seeking  in  all  countries  for  the 
bravest  heroes,  whom  they  marked  with  their  spear- 
point,  when  the  hour  of  death  had  come.  The  departed 
heroes,  called  Einheriars,  pass  their  time  in  Valhalla, 
having  every  day  the  pleasure  of  arming  themselves, 
marshaling  themselves  in  military  order,  fighting  and 
knocking  down  one  another;  but  in  the  evening  they 
get  up  again  and  return  to  Valhalla,  where  a  fes- 
tival meal  is  prepared  for  them,  consisting  of  the 
flesh  of  a  boar,  called  Sahrimner,  which,  though 
butchered  every  day,  returns  to  life  again,  and  the 
beautiful  virgins,  the  Valkyriers,  present  to  them  the 


24  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

mead-horn,  of  which  they  drink  till  they  are  in  a  state 
of  intoxication  ;  but  the  pleasures  of  love  do  not  enter 
at  all  into  the  joys  of  this  extraordinary  Paradise.  Odin 
sits  by  himself  at  a  particular  table.  A  different  lot  or 
fate  fell  to  the  cowards  who  feared  the  battle  and 
dangers  of  war,  and  allowed  themselves  to  be  cut  off 
by  disease.  Cast  down  to  Helheim  (hell)  they  had  to 
continue  their  life  there,  as  silent,  trembling  shadows, 
without  pleasure  and  exploits,  and  under  the  perpetual 
suffering  of  anguish,  remorse,  and  famine.  Odin  him- 
self, Thor,  and  the  keen  Tyr,  belonged  to  the  Asatribe; 
while  Freia,  the  goddess  of  love,  together  with  Njord 
and  Frigga,  disposing  of  tranquil  occupations,  hunting, 
fishing,  favorable  winds  on  the  ocean,  and  plenteous 
years,  were  ascribed  to  the  gentle  Vane-tribe. 

Nevertheless,  the  dominion  of  the  Valhalla  gods  was 
not  to  last  forever,  but  the  power  to  be  given  to 
another  god,  who  should  judge  men  conformably  to  a 
higher  law,  not  as  they  were  brave  or  cowardly,  but 
as  they  were  good  or  evil,  for  the  Edda  of  Snorro 
says:  "  The  world  shall  be  judged  in  righteousness." 
The  Valhalla  gods,  however,  were  safe  as  long  as 
Baldur,  the  wisest  and  most  righteous  of  all  gods,  and 
protector  of  innocence,  was  living.  But  the  cunning 
and  designing  Loke,  the  evil  deity  and  the  father  of 
treachery,  by  birth  half  related  to  the  gods,  half  to 
the  Jetters,  and  father  of  Hela,  the  Fenriswolf,  and 
the  dreadful  Midgards  serpent,  smugging  himself  into 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  25 

the  fellowship  of  the  gods,  so  prevailed,  by  his  crafti- 
ness, upon  Baldur's  own  brother,  as  to  kill  him.  Now 
nothing  can  avert  the  declension  of  the  gods  and  the 
perdition  of  the  world.  The  sun  becomes  eclipsed,  the 
ocean  overflows,  and  the  Midgards  serpent  rises  from  the 
deep.  Loke  and  Jetters  confederated  with  the  burning 
and  consuming  Surtur,  rush  now  upon  Valhalla,  which, 
together  with  Niftheim  (Helheim)  perish  in  Ragnarok, 
the  twilight  of  the  gods.  All  gods  and  Einheriars  fall 
in  the  battle,  and  the  whole  world  perishes.  But  a 
new  earth  rises  from  the  ocean,  and  the  Almighty  God 
descends  himself  to  judge  men  in  righteousness.  The 
honest  and  true  get  permission  to  enter  into  Gimle 
— Odin's  gold-radiating  palace — to  live  there  in  eternal 
joy  with  the  Almighty,  and  in  fellowship  with  the  other 
gods,  who  had  been  purified  through  the  flames.  Gimle 
has  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  for  Odin 
gives  it  light  himself .  But  the  evil,  perjurers,  mur- 
derers, and  seducers,  could  not  enter  into  that  society, 
but  are  cast  down  to  Nastrond,  the  eternal  fire,  where 
they  have  to  expiate  their  misdeeds  crossing  streams 
of  yellow  matter,  and  suffering  great  pain  in  the  eternal 
flames  prepared  for  them. 

The  gods  were  worshiped  partly  in  the  open  air,  in 
groves,  or  places  encompassed  by  a  circle  of  huge  stones, 
partly  in  wooden  temples,  among  which  that  in  Upsala 
(Sweden)  was  most  famous.  The  public  worship — the 
vnain   point  of  which  were  sacrifices — was  in   general 


26  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

administered  by  the  head  of  the  family  ;  at  the  temples 
priests  were  appointed— sometimes,  also,  priestesses.  In 
order  to  honor  the  gods  several  great  annual  feasts  were 
established,  among  which  Juel  (Christmas)  was  most 
remarkable  as  the  most  joyous  and  festival  season  to 
the  Norsemen.  From  all  quarters  of  the  country  men 
and  women  then  resorted  to  the  temples,  making  large 
offerings  ;  friends  and  relatives  presented  one  another 
with  gifts,  and  many  days  were  spent  in  feasts  and  gay 
compotations.  In  the  spring  there  was  a  sacrificial 
offering,  to  ensure  luck  in  war  and  in  Viking  expedi- 
tions (piracies)  usually  beginning  at  that  season.  With 
these  barbarous  people  the  number  nine  was  supposed 
to  have  something  in  it  of  peculiar  sanctity.  Every 
ninth  month,  therefore,  a  sacrifice  was  offered  up  to 
the  gods.  The  usual  victims  were  horses,  oxen,  young 
swine,  hawks,  and  cocks.  From  the  entrails  and  the 
running  blood  the  priests  told  the  people  their  fortunes, 
and  the  flesh  was  prepared  for  a  meal  to  the  assembled 
sacrificers.  Sometimes  even  men  were  offered — mostly 
slaves  and  prisoners  of  war — for  the  Norsemen,  in  their 
uncultivated  state,  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  cannibals ; 
to  which  Dithmar)  a  reliable  historian  of  the  eleventh 
century,  bears  witness,  telling  that  before  Odin's  arrival 
the  goddess  Hertha  was,  in  Leira,  in  the  island  of 
Sjelland,  (Zeeland,)  worshiped  with  great  solemnity; 
and  that  every  ninth  year,  in  the  month  of  January, 
the  Danes  offered  up  to  her  ninety-nine  men,  and  the 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  27 

same  number  of  horses,  dogs,  and  cocks,  in  the  firm 
assurance  of  thus  obtaining  her  favor  and  protection. 

The  different  classes  of  Norsemen,  being  of  the  same 
extraction,  had  also  the  same  language,  except  some 
provincialisms,  idioms,  and  differences  in  pronuncia- 
tion, entirely  inevitable  where  the  same  language  is 
spoken  over  extensive  tracts  and  territories.  While 
thus  the  old  Scandinavian  language,  in  process  of  time, 
was  undergoing  several  alterations,  it  was  in  the  remote 
Iceland  kept  in  its  perfect  purity,  free  from  all  foreign 
idioms.  The  general  appellation  of  the  common  lan- 
guage was  Danish  tongue,  the  Danes  being  a  long  time 
considered  the  main  people,  and  through  several  cen- 
turies playing  the  most  important  parts  in  the  North. 
The  language  improved  by  discourses  in  public  meet- 
ings, and  by  the  songs  of  Skalds  or  Bards ;  and  later, 
when  the  use  of  letters  became  customary,  by  a  multi- 
tude-of  historical  writings,  particularly  composed  by  the 
Icelanders  skilled  in  old  sayings,  which  were  handed 
down  to  them  from  antiquity,  a  considerable  number 
of  which  writings  are  yet  left.  The  poets,  generally 
called  Skalds,  who  by  their  songs  have  immortalized 
ancestral  achievements  and  exploits,  were  seldom  mis- 
sing ii.  public  meetings,  drinking  bouts,  and  other 
festival  occasions.  They  stayed  often  at  the  royal  courts 
and  the  manors  of  the  Prefects,  where  they  propagated, 
through  their  songs,  achievements  and  exploits  of  Kings 
and  Prefects  to  succeeding  generations  ;  and  being  often, 


28  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

not  jnly  eye-witnesses  themselves,  "but  even  partakers  oi 
the  achievements  they  have  glorified  in  their  songs, 
Their  poetic  productions,  a  great  numher  of  which  have 
been  preserved  uncorrupted  down  to  our  very  days, 
are  of  importance  for  History. 

The  Norsemen  had  some  peculiar  letters,  consisting 
of  sixteen  marks  or  characters,  called  Runes,  the  origin 
of  which  ascends  to  the  remotest  antiquity.  They 
were  used  not  only  by  the  Norsemen,  but  also  by  kin- 
dred tribes  abroad.  The  signification  of  the  word  Rune 
(mystery)  seems  to  allude  to  the  fact  that,  originally, 
only  a  few  have  known  the  use  of  these  marks,  and  that 
they  mostly  have  been  applied  to  secret  tricks,  witch- 
craft, and  enchantments.  There  were  both  plain  and 
artificial  Runes,  called  Lonrunes,  (the  Scandinavian 
word  Lon  denoting  secret,)  with  the  latter  of  which 
a  great  superstition  was  connected,  the  priests  believ- 
ing, by  aid  of  them,  to  be  able  to  haunt  a  place,  to  dull 
weapons,  to  stop  thunder  and  hurricanes,  to  cure  or 
occasion  diseases,  and  so  on;  and,  when  engraved  on 
nails,  wrists,  rudders  of  ships,  handles  of  swords, 
these  Lonrunes  were  supposed  able  to  bring  a  thing  to  a 
happy  issue,  or  avert  dangers.  But  the  Runes  were 
also  used  as  communications  in  writing ;  for  instance, 
on  being  engraved  on  thin  wooden  tablets,  which  were 
sent  away  as  letters,  or  on  being  used  to  record  a  series 
of  kings,  genealogical  tables,  and  the  like.  "Worthy  to 
be  noted  is  also  the  use  of  Runes  for  inscriptions  on 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  29 

stones,  in  order  to  preserve  the  remembrance  of  cele- 
brated men  and  their  achievements.  To  the  most 
remarkable  of  such  Rune-stones,  to  be  found  round 
about  in  the  Scandinavian  countries,  belong  the  two 
Jellingstones  in  Southern  Jutland,  where  it  is  sup- 
posed that  the  king,  Gorm  the  Old,  and  his  queen, 
Thyra  Dannebod,  have  their  sepulchre. 

The  warlike  mind,  so  strongly  and  clearly  expressed 
in  the  Northern  mythology,  appears  in  all  parts  of  the 
popular  life.  Tranquil  occupations  did  not  enjoy  any 
reputation  among  the  ancient  Norsemen,  while  war  and 
fighting  were  a  sure  way  of  acquiring  an  eminent 
name  with  contemporaries,  glorious  fame  with  succeeding 
generations,  and  means  and  riches  in  abundance.  To 
eat  bread  in  the  sweat  of  the  brow  was  considered 
inglorious.  Life  was  of  little  value,  and  had  to  be 
risked  at  any  cost  for  honor ;  and  an  old  warrior,  when 
unable  to  wield  his  sword,  often  caused  one  of  his 
friends  to  kill  him,  to  avoid  a  natural  death,  which 
was  an  exclusion  from  the  privileges  of  Valhalla.  But, 
although  frequent  wars  and  mutual  challenges  were 
carried  on  in  Scandinavia,  the  Norsemen  often  sailed  to 
far-off  regions  to  win  honor  and  renown.  Yet,  however, 
not  only  desire  for  warfare  allured  the  Norsemen  from 
home,  but  much  more,  the  necessity  of  procuring  such 
necessaries  of  life  and  such  enjoyments  as  they  could 
not  have  in  their  own  countries.  In  the  spring,  great 
crowds  of   new-raised   men,  fit  to  bear  arms,  usually 


30  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

went  away'fiom  home,  mercilessly  plundering  coasts 
and  lands,  wherever  they  made  their  appearance,  and 
in  the  fall  returning  with  rich  spoil  and  prisoners  of 
war,  who  thereupon  became  slaves.  Such  expeditions 
were  called  Vikingefarter,  and  the  partakers  Vikings. 
Some  made  even  such  a  life  a  business,  and  spent 
nearly  all  their  time  on  the  ocean  as  pirates,  despising 
the  easier  country  life,  and  speaking  disdainfully  of 
sleeping  under  a  sooty  ceiling,  or  sitting  round  a  warm 
stove  with  old  women.  According  to  the  character  of 
the  Norsemen,  their  disputes  wpre  nearly  always  settled 
by  arms.  "  It  was  more  honorable  for  men,"  say  the 
old  Sagas,  "  to  fight  by  sword  than  to  quarrel  by 
tongue;"  and  when,  therefore,  a  quarrel  arose,  either 
on  account  of  personal  offences,  or  concerning  inheri- 
tance and  borders,  then  the  sword  was  usually  the 
judge.  After  challenging  one  another  to  a  duel,  they 
met  on  a  place  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  big  stones,  01 
hedged  in  by  wicker-work,  or  also  on  a  small  island, 
and  if  the  challenged  did  not  punctually  make  his 
appearance,  he  lost  his  reputation ;  nobody  would  keep 
company  with  him,  and  sometimes  even  a  high  pole  was 
erected,  on  which  Runes  were  engraved,  announcing 
his  name  and  infamy.  The  challenged,  however,  was 
permitted  to  prevail  upon  another  to  fight  instead  of 
himself ;  but,  in  general,  they  were  loth  to  do  so,  as  it 
always  set  the  principal  in  an  unfavorable  light.  One 
murder   became   generally  the   cause  of  another ;    for, 

*  Vikings  they  are  called,  because  tliey  remained  in  the  ricks  cr  havens  to 
catch  and  plunder  pass  ng  ships. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  31 

although  fines  could  be  paid  as  atonement  for  a  murder 
committed  in  an  open  and  honest  duel,  the  near  rela- 
tives often  required  blood  for  blood ;  a  manner  of 
thinking  which  a  father,  being  offered  money  for  a 
murder  committed  on  his  only  son,  properly  expressed 
in  answering :  "I  will  not  carry  the  corpse  of  my  dearly 
beloved  son  in  my  pocket-book."  And  if  a  murder  was 
committed  cunningly  and  treacherously,  then  vengeance 
of  blood  was  an  unavoidable  obligation,  from  which  the 
surviving  relatives  could  not  withdraw  without  total  loss 
of  their  reputation.  Revengeful  and  inexorable  as  the 
Norsemen  were  in  their  enmity,  so  faithful  and  self- 
denying  they  proved  themselves  in  their  friendship. 
Warriors  valuing  one  another  highly,  often  made  a 
contract  called  Foster-brother  Covenant,  by  which  they, 
under  the  observance  of  different  solemn  ceremonies, 
mixed  blood  together,  swearing  allegiance,  and  binding 
themselves  by  a  fearful  oath  to  avenge  the  death  of  one 
another,  by  inflicting  severe  punishment  upon  the  mur- 
derer. This  covenant  was  now  and  then  extended 
even  so  far  as  to  promise  not  to  outlive  one  another; 
and  the  ancient  History  of  Scandinavia  sets  forth  many 
beautiful  examples  of  such  faithfulness  and  self-denying 
love.  Though  bloody  and  implacable  in  war,  they  were 
not  strangers  to  the  virtues  of  peace ;  hospitality  and 
kindness  to  strangers,  which  are  the  common  virtues  of 
rude  nations,  the  dwellers  of  Scandinavia  possessed  in 
a   very  high  degree,  and  appreciated  highly,  and  they 


32  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

entertained  for  each  other  the  most  kindly  ieelings  of 
regard.  Every  traveler  was  received  kindly,  and  the 
person  of  the  guest  considered  holy ;  and  when  a  man 
entered  into  the  house  of  his  enemy,  with  whom  he 
everywhere  else  would  have  to  abide  the  issue  of  a 
bloody  fight,  he  was,  as  long  as  he  was  his  guest,  safe 
from  any  outrage  or  mischief.  On  the  whole,  it  was  as 
if  the  Apostle's  words  had  been  known  to  the  ancient 
Norsemen  :  "  Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers,  for 
thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  unawares."  It 
is,  therefore,  very  wrong,  when  some  partial  historians, 
as  for  instance  Voltaire,  set  forth  a  few  instances  of  bru- 
tality and  barbarism  among  the  Norsemen  as  character- 
istic of  the  manners  and  genius  of  the  whole  race. 

The  respect,  likewise,  which  the  dwellers  of  Scandi- 
navia entertained  for  the  female  sex,  was  a  striking 
feature  in  their  character,  and  could  not  fail  to  human- 
ize their  dispositions.  The  state  and  condition  of  the 
female  sex  in  society  at  large,  was  better  in  the  north 
than  in  most  other  countries  where  Christianity  had  not 
produced  a  salutary  revolution.  The  daughters,  brought 
up  in  their  paternal  home,  and  taught  occupations  per- 
taining to  females,  were  permitted  to  partake  in  social 
enjoyments  and  public  meetings.  Even  the  females 
appreciated  bravery  and  a  manly  mind1,  the  want  of 
which  with  the  males,  was,  in  their  opinion,  not  repa- 
rable from  other  excellencies.     The  father  or  guardian 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA  33 

disposed,  according  to  custom,  of  the  hand  of  the 
unmarried  girl,  but  in  reality  she  was,  however,  at  her 
own.  disposal,  being  very  seldom  given  in  marriage 
against  her  own  option.  The  wedding  ceremony,  per- 
formed under  the  observance  of  religious  ceremonies, 
was  attended  with  festivities  during  several  days, 
whereafter  the  husband  guided  his  wife  to  her  new 
home,  handing  her  the  bunch  of  keys  (Nogleknippet)  as 
a  sign  of  her  duties  as  the  mistress  of  the  house. 
Monogamy  was  customary ;  nevertheless  the  husband 
cohabited  now  and  then  with  concubines, — a  cause  of 
frequent  divorces  and  bloody  fights.  As  for  chastity 
and  pure  manners,  the  old  sayings  report  well,  and 
speak  in  high  terms  of  the  women  of  the  north. 
They  were  true  to  their  country,  their  husbands,  their 
friends  and  their  home,  and  their  love  did  not  cease  on 
this  side  the  grave.  The  science  of  healing,  imperfect 
as  it  might  be  at  that  time,  was  mostly  practiced  by 
women,  to  whom,  also,  the  peculiar  gift  to  interpret 
dreams  was  ascribed ;  which  gift,  according  to  the  old 
sayings,  Odin  had  sent  down  to  all  women  from  his 
splendid  Hlidskjalf. 

The  business  of  the  Norsemen  was  hunting,  fishing, 
and  breeding  of  cattle,  also  a  little  agriculture.  Pytheas* 
a  merchant  from  Marseilles,  in  Southern  France,  who> 
about  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  arrived  in  a 
country  which  he  calls  Thule,  generally  considered  to 
have  been  Southern  Norway,  tells  that  the  inhabitants 


34  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

understood  how  to  till  barley,  and  prepare  a  drink  of 

honey,  and  that  they  did  not,  as  in  Southern  Europe^ 

thresh  their  grain  in  the  open  air,  hut  binding  it  up  into 

sheaves,  carried  it  into  large  barns  to  be  threshed.     The 

most  common  food  of  the  Norsemen  was  the  flesh  of 

wild  and  domestic  animals,  fish,  and  vegetables ;  horse 

and  swine  flesh  were  considered  the  finest  dishes ;  beer 

and  mead  were  their  drinks.     Trade  was  exercised  by 

the  keen  northern  navigators  on  far-off  coasts,  but  their 

traffic  was  often  turned  into  piracy,  and  the  sword  was 

substituted  for  gold  and   silver.     Grain,  honey,   flour, 

salt  and  cloth  were  brought  from  England.     Oriental 

commodities  came  by  land  to  Russia,  from  whence  the 

Norsemen  imported  them,  and  the  harbors  of  Northern 

Germany  drew  together  commercial  connections  with 

Middle  Europe.     Scandinavia  herself  had  only  very  few 

wares    to    export;    nearly    none    but    fish,    fur,    and 

amber,    which   was  found  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 

and   on  the   western    coast  of    Jutland.     Coins   were 

unknown,  and  payment  was,  therefore,  made  by  pieces 

of  gold  and  silver,  or  wares  exchanged  for  wares.     Of 

mechanical  arts  there  were  in  ancient  times  only  very 

few.     Nevertheless,  the  art  of  ship-building,  and  dex 

terity  in  hammering  arms  and  ornaments  were  highly 

valued  and  exercised  by  free-born   men,  while  plainer 

works  and  domestic  services  were  made  by  slaves.     The 

women  were   very   skillful   in   weaving   tapestry,    and 

interweaving  figures  of  men,  animals,  and  landscapes 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  35 

The  dwellings  of  the  Scandinavian  people  were  made 
d£  timber,  and  the  construction  was  plain,  one  room 
being  both  kitchen,  bed-chamber,  and  sitting-room.  In 
the  middle  of  the  room  were  the  stove  and  the  chimney, 
and  to  let  out  the  smoke  an  opening  was  made  in  the 
ceiling,  which  also  let  in  light  to  the  room  ;  for  windows 
were  unknown.  Nevertheless  the  rich  and  prominent 
families  had  more  convenient  dwellings  :  kitchen,  parlor, 
bed-chamber,  bathing-room,  and  often  a  handsome  hall. 

The  Norseman's  dearest  and  most  important  property 
were  his  arms.  In  ancient  times  they  were  plain  and 
art  ess.  and,  like  other  implements,  made  of  stones  ;  later, 
cf  copper ;  for  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  Norsemen 
learnt  how  to  forge  iron.  Their  aggressive  weapons,  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the  old  sayings,  were  clubs,  stones, 
swords,  battle-axes,  slings,  bows,  arrows,  and  spears ; 
their  defensive  were  shirts  of  mail,  helms,  and  shields, 
adorned  with  figures  of*  animals,  as  armorial  ensigns, 
and  so  highly  appreciated  as  to  be  hereditary.  On  the 
whole,  for  the  young  Norseman,  whose  education  was, 
like  the  ancient  Spartan's,  exclusively  calculated  for  a 
military  life,  the  practice  in  using  arms  was  necessary 
to  make  his  body  pliable  and  hardy  ;  by  the  early  and 
frequent  exercises  of  which  they  also  acquired  an  almost 
incomprehensible  dexterity  and  muscular  strength  in 
using  and  wielding  the  sword.  Braver  men  never  lived  ; 
truer  men  never  drew  the  bow.  They  had  courage, 
fortitude,  sagacity,  bodily  strength,  and  perseverance ; 


36  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

they  shrux/v  from  no  dangers,  and  they  feared  no  hard- 
ships. "  Odin  is  for  us — who  can  be  against  us  ?"  was 
their  watchword ;  and  the  old  Sagas  say :  "  Here  it  was 
beautiful  to  live,  sad  to  die."  Penetrated  with  a 
lively  desire  for  acquiring  honor  and  renown,  the  ancient 
Norsemen  employed  all  their  efforts  to  keep  their  famous 
ancestors  in  an  unshaken  memory ;  and  when  an  emi- 
nent chief  had  died,  his  relatives  and  friends  decreed 
solemn  funeral  honors,  called  Gravol,  (parentations,)  by 
which  a  glorious  mention  was  made  of  the  actions  of  the 
deceased,  and  drinking  cups  of  beer  emptied  in  his 
honor,  the  present  guests  obliging  themselves  to  honor 
his  glorious  and  sacred  memory  by  promising  to  perform 
some  distinguished  deed.  To  make  such  a  vow,  and 
empty  such  a  cup  of  memory,  which  was  called  the 
Minnicup,  was  a  duty  indispensably  incumbent  on  the 
son,  before  he  could  place  himself  in  the  chair  of  state 
of  his  celebrated  father. 

In  remotest  antiquity  the  corpses  were  buried  in  the 
earth ;  later,  burnt,  the  ashes  being  stored  up  in  urns — a 
custom  ascribed  to  Odin.  At  a  later  period  it  became 
again  customary  to  bury  the  corpses,  and  heap  up 
gigantic  hills,  many  of  which  are  yet  to  be  found.  The 
corpses  of  more  distinguished  persons  were,  however, 
seldom  buried  in  the  bare  earth,  but  in  a  vault  (mauso 
leum)  surrounded  with  big  stones ;  and  upon  the  vault 
was  generally  laid  a  tall  stone,  with  an  inscription — 
(Rune-stone.)     According  to  the  general  opinion,  that  in 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  37 

the  life  to  come  the  deceased  would  have  to  acquit  him- 
self of  the  same  office  as  here,  the  best  decorations,  and 
things  which  had  belonged  to  his  situation  and  office, 
were  laid  down  in  the  sepulchre  ;  wherefore,  also,  in 
said  sepulchres,  frequently  are  found  swords  and  other 
arms,  different  implements,  finger-rings,  bracelets,  neck- 
laces of  pearl  and  amber,  and  mosaic  work,  and  the  like 
ornaments. 

Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden  were,  in  ancient 
times,  divided  into  small  portions,  districts  and  pro- 
vinces, (Herreder,  Sysler,)  more  of  which  by  degrees 
were  so  united  as  to  form  small  states,  until  at  last  all 
these  single  provinces  made  up  three  kingdoms,  which  for 
many  centuries  had  mostly  only  one  king.  These  ancient 
kings  of  Scandinavia  were — thus  record  the  old  sayings — 
beloved  and  honored  by  their  people,  as  fathers  and 
friends.  They  did  not  expect  their  subjects  to  kneel  to 
them  when  they  came  to  ask  a  favor  or  advice,  nor  did 
their  subjects  ever  prostrate  themselves,  like  those  of 
great  monarchs  of  Asia  or  Egypt.  Their  power  was 
limited,  and  their  function,  as  written  laws  had  not  yet 
existed,  was  to  settle  disputes  which  might  arise  among 
the  selfish  and  ignorant,  to  make  laws  and  alter  the  old 
ones,  by  which  the  people  and  the  influential  men  con- 
sented to  be  governed,  and  to  lead  their  subjects  in  war. 
To  offer  sacrifices,  and  take  a  leading  part  in  divine 
worship,  was  also  often  the  king's  business.  For  this 
the  subjects  gave  their  king  large  farms  and  lordships,  a 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


considerable  part  of  the  spoils  of  war,  and  the  highest 
places  at  all  feasts,  and  in  the  public  deliberations — 
^hat  is,  in  the  assemblies  or  assizes  (Thinge) — where 
they  consulted  together  concerning  public  affairs  ;  and 
they  always  addressed  him  with  respect.  Moreover, 
forests  and  untilled  tracts  of  land,  and  ornaments  found 
in  the  earth,  belonged  to  the  king.  When  a  king  died, 
the  people  convened  to  elect  his  successor ;  but,  though 
heirship  was  not  fully  entitled  to  ascend  the  throne,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  deceased  king  was  generally  chosen,  in 
order  to  avoid  disputes.  Upon  the  failure  of  the  blood 
royal,  the  election  was  entirely  free.  The  government 
seems,  on  the  whole,  to  have  been  almost  an  absolute 
monarchy,  of  a  mixed,  hereditary,  and  elective  nature. 

The  peasantry  was,  in  this  early  age,  almost  the 
only  corporation  of  Scandinavia.  By  a  peasant  was 
understood,  not  alone  a  husbandman,  an  agricultor,  but 
every  free-born  person  who  was  possessed  of  real  estates, 
with  whatever  office  he  else  might  be  invested.  Thus 
the  peasantry  constituted  the  people.  But  above  the 
peasants  ranked  the  chiefs  or  leaders,  not  on  account  of 
peculiar  privileges,  but  of  the  greater  credit  and  influ- 
ence they  enjoyed,  because  they  were  in  possession  of 
larger  property,  and  descended  from  distinguished 
families.  From  among  such  families  the  kings  in 
general  took  earls  (Jarler)  to  rule  the  conquered  pro- 
vinces, and  all  the  warriors  and  officers  who  constituted 
their  court  (Hird).     The  peasants  and  the  chiefs  consti- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  39 

tuted  the  Diet,  and  met  at  the  assize  (Thing),  a  place 
selected  for  this  very  purpose,  and  surrounded  with  holy 
ash  trees  or  with  a  circle  of  stones.  Here  they  con- 
sulted concerning  war  and  peace ;  here  the  kings  were 
elected  ;  here  the  laws  were  passed  or  annulled,  and  law- 
suits decided ;  and  without  the  consent  of  the  Diet  the 
king  could  not  decide  upon  anything  of  consequence. 
The  laws  were  few  and  simple,  consisting  mostly  in 
customs ;  the  punishments  were  mild,  and  most  crimes 
could  be  atoned  for  by  paying  a  fine ;  yet  assassination, 
aigh-treason,  arson,  and  burglary,  were  now  and  then 
punished,  either  by  slavery,  outlawry,  or  forfeiture  of 
life.  The  slaves  were  divided  into  native  Scandinavians 
and  foreigners.  In  the  many  wars  which  the  Norsemen 
waged  with  southern  Europe,  they  made  prisoners,  who 
became  slaves,  if  their  relatives  or  friends  could  not  pay 
for  their  liberation.  Also,  many  slaves  were  made  by 
trade.  Their  condition  was  miserable.  The  ancient 
Norsemen  hardly  acknowledged  slaves  to  be  men.  A 
slave  might  be  beaten,  starved,  and  otherwise  tormented, 
or  be  killed  by  his  master's  order,  and  the  abuser 
might  go  unpunished.  They  could  not  buy,  sell,  nor 
inherit — not  take  oath,  not  marry — but  were  sold  and 
bought  as  other  wares.  Slaves  never  carried  arms, 
except  when  expressly  armed  for  military  service.  One 
of  the  most  toilsome  but  necessary  labors  of  slaves, 
was  the  preparation  of  corn  or  wheat.  In  those  iges 
there  were   neither  wind  nor  water  mills,  corn   being 


40  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

beaten  by  slaves,  or  pounded,  or  ground  in  a  hand-miil 
There  were,  however,  many  slaveholders  who  never 
practised  these  cruelties,  and  the  slaves  of  Scandinavia 
were,  on  the  whole,  treated  with  more  humanity  than 
in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Slaves  were  even  sometimes 
let  out  to  serve  other  citizens,  and  in  that  case  they 
were  permitted  to  have  a  part  of  their  wages,  and  the 
money  thus  earned  was  often  saved  to  purchase  the 
liberty  of  the  slaves.  A  kind  master  granted,  some- 
times, a  faithful  slave  his  liberty,  whose  children  then 
could  become  citizens,  and  enjoy  all  civil  privileges.  Of 
course,  the  introduction  of  Christianity  put  a  stop  to 
many  abuses  of  slavery,  and  the  first  Scandinavian 
Christians  treated  their  slaves  kindly,  approving  of  St. 
Paul's  words  to  the  Athenians :  "  God  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  the  earth,  bond  and  free." 

Upon  the  whole,  nothing  is  more  horrible  and  affecting 
than  such  debasement  of  a  fellow  creature.  The  Greek 
poet,  Homer,  who  lived  about  twelve  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  says  truly :  "  Whatever  day  makes  man 
a  slave  takes  half  his  worth  away." 

Of  the  great  European  Emigration  the  Norsemen  were, 
properly  speaking,  not  partakers,  except  as  far  as  Jut- 
A.  p.,  landers,  Angles  and  Saxons,  at  about  the  same 
U9-  time,  under  the  command  of  the  two  brothers, 
Hengist  and  Horsafset  out  for  and  conquered  England, 
and  erected  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  the  history  of  which 
is  very  obscure.     The  duration  of  the  several  kingdoms, 

*  The  stallion  and  the  mare  are  perhaps  the  names  of  the  leaders,  o""  perhapa 
only  the  names  of  the  vessels  the7  commanded. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  41 

till  their  union  under  Egbert,  is  almost  all  that  a.  d  , 
can  be  noted  with  any  approach  to  historical  827- 
certainty.  But  it  is  beyond  all  question,  that  the 
Cimbri  and  Teutons,  and  later,  the  Groths  and  Longo- 
beards,  and  the  other  people  mentioned,  have  emigrated 
from  Scandinavia,  except,  perhaps,  that  some  single 
crowds  from  the  north  might  have  joined  the  kindred 
tribes  south  of  the  Baltic.  But  after  that  great  agita- 
tion, called  the  European  Emigration,  had  subsided,  an 
emigration  from  Scandinavia  commenced  in  the  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries,  breaking  out  violently  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries.  The  Normans  (the  Danes,  Norwe- 
gians, and  Swedes,  commonly  styled  so  in  southern 
Europe,)  had  undoubtedly  formerly  made  frequent  expe- 
ditions (Vikingefarter)  to  near  and  far-off  regions ;  but 
now  their  expeditions  began  to  be  made  in  greater  num- 
bers, intending  not  only  to  obtain  booty,  but  even 
possessions  and  dwellings  abroad.  The  union  of  the 
provincial  territories  under  one  king,  both  in  Denmark 
and  Norway,  and  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and 
the  change  of  manners  and  customs  connected  therewith, 
had  made  many  dissatisfied  with  their  native  country. 
This,  together  with  a  strong  desire  for  a  warfaring  life, 
induced  numerous  crowds  from  all  regions  of  the  North 
to  go  away  to  seek  a  new  home ;  and  the  southern 
lands,  which  by  the  dissolution  of  Charlemagne's  a.  d., 
empire,  were  enervated  and  entirely  defenceless,  843- 
were  a  tempting  bait  for  the  Normans.     Their  expedk 


42  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

tions  extended  from  the  Baltic  straight  down  to  the 
coasts  of  Africa,  and  to  the  innermost  parts  of  the  Medi- 
terranean sea,  which  had  so  often  formerly  resounded 
with  the  strife  of  Latin  arms.  Nor  were  their  enter- 
prises confined  to  these  coasts.  They  descended  all  along 
the  shores  of  Portugal  and  Western  France,  and  there- 
after along  the  largest  rivers  of  Europe — Elbe,  Rhine, 
Scheldt,  Seine,  Loire,  Garonne,  and  Rhone.  They  dared, 
on  their  small  flat-bottomed  vessels,  to  make  irruption 
into  the  inland  parts  of  the  countries,  spreading  terror 
and  causing  the  most  terrible  havoc  wheresoever  they 
went.  The  flourishing  cities  of  Holland  and  Germany, 
Nimvegen,  Liege,  Bonn,  Cologne,  and  Aachen,  were  con- 
sumed by  their  fire,  and  they  went  over  the  entire 
dreadful  drama  of  warlike  glory.  Finally  Arnulf,  the 
G-erman  Emperor,  put  a  stop  to  their  invasions  and 
A.  d.,  cruelties,  after  having  completely  defeated  them 
89L  newt  Loven,  in  Belgium. 

To  France  was  the  cruel  Danish  Yiking,  Hastings,  a 

horrible  scourge.     He  marched  twice  to  the  gates  of 

Paris,  plundered,  and  exacted  tribute.     The  third  time 

A.  d.,   Paris  was  saved  by  the  bravery  of  Count  Odo, 

886-      afterwards  King  of  France.     Then  he  prepared  tc 

set  out  for  Rome,    resolving  to  give  full  way  to  his 

natural   desire   for   conquest ;    but  mistaking  the  city 

Luna  for  Rome,  he  attacked  and  obtained  it.     Yet  no 

A.  d,   rest    for    France,    until    Charles    the    Foolish, 

•u-      King  of   France,    gave    up   to   Rollo,    or   Rolf 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  45 

Gange,  a  Norwegian  chief,  a  whole  province,  which  was 
now  called  Normandy.  Alfred  the  Great,  of  England, 
had,  in  resisting  the  cruel  Hastings,  to  withstand  a 
skillful  veteran.  For  three  years  he  had,  undismayed, 
contended  against  Alfred,  till  he  at  last  had  to  yiek' 
indignantly  to  that  noble  King  of  England.  Has-  a.  d., 
tings  had  marked  his  course  with  blood  ;  but  897- 
whatever  was  done  by  him,  fell  short  of  the  merciless 
ferocity  of  other  Danes,  who,  about  the  same  time,  laid 
England  waste.  Scotland,  the  Hebrides,  and  Ireland 
were  thrown  into  the  most  extreme  desolation  by  the 
Danes  and  Norwegians,  who  in  Ireland  were  called 
Ostmen  (men  of  the  east.)  The  exclamation  of  a  monk 
of  Worcester  is  forcible  :  "  O  quam  crebris  vexationibus, 
quam  gravibus  laboribus,  quam  diris  et  lament  abilibus 
modis,  non  solum  a  Danis,  verum  etiam  ab  filiis  satan- 
icis  ITastingii,  tota  vexata  est  Anglia."  Not  till  the 
Norsemen  had  won  pleasant  dwellings,  and  states  by 
them  were  founded  in  France,  Italy,  Ostangel,  Northum- 
berland, on  the  Island  of  Man,  and  the  Orkney  Isles, 
as  also  in  Russia,  where  they  were  called  Vareger, 
did  the  tumult  gradually  subside ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  fierce  passions  of  the  Norsemen  were  in  some 
degree  moderated  by  the  mild  precepts  of  the  Gospel. 

The  oldest  events  in  Scandinavia  are  only  known 
from  the  old  sayings  or  traditions,  which  first,  at  a  later 
period,  have  been  written  down,  and  therefore  do  not 
give  the  events  back  in  their  true  form,  but  are  mixed 


44  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

up  with  fiction,  which  has  given  rise  to  an  insuperable 
chronological  difficulty.  The  traditions  are  so  varied, 
that  it  is  often  impossible  to  discover  the  truth  of  any 
of  the  circumstances.  The  materials  from  which  these 
traditions  are  compiled,  are  in  Scandinavia,  as  in  Rome, 
and  Greece,  the  legendary  ballads,  which  are  in  every 
country  the  first  records  of  warlike  exploits.  Of  conse- 
quence are  also  the  calendars  and  annals  kept  by  the 
priests,  and  the  genealogical  tables  kept  by  the  earls  and 
other  distinguished  families.  But  poetic  historians  have 
afterwards  mingled  so  much  fiction  with  truth,  that 
often  only  few  of  their  assertions  can  be  deemed 
authentic.  The  history,  therefore,  of  Scandinavia, 
through  the  first  eight  centuries  after  Christ,  until  King 
A.  D.,  Gorm  the  Old,  is  properly  and  correctly  called 
883-  the  Fabulous  Age,  because  deprived  of  the 
nature  of  historical  evidence,  and  often  involved  in 
impenetrable  obscurity,  and  accordingly,  full  of  the 
greatest  improbabilities ;  while  the  period  before  Christ, 
destitute  of  all  light,  is  called  the  Obscure  Age.  Odin, 
supposed  to  have  arrived  in  Scandinavia  about  seventy 
years  before  Christ,  and,  according  to  the  religious  ideas 
of  the  Norsemen,  considered  the  Supreme  God,  is  by 
some  historians  described  as  a  real  historical  person  -a 
mighty  king — who  has  ruled  the  northern  countries. 
Several  sons  are  ascribed  to  him,  who,  after  his  death, 
divided  Scandinavia  into  equal  parts.  Heimdal  is  said 
to  have  reigned  in  Skane,  Niord  in  Sweden,   Seming 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  45 

in  Norway,  Balder  in  Angel,  (Schleswig,)  and  Skjold  in 
Sjelland  (Zealand)  and  Jutland ;  the  latter  being  the 
head  of  an  illustrious  generation  of  kings,  called 
Skfoldunger,  who  are  said  to  have  resided  in  Leire, 
(Lethra,)  twenty  English  miles  from  Copenhagen.  In 
Christ's  time  Frode  Fredegod  (Pacific)  is  said  to  have 
been  King  of  Denmark.  The  rulers  at  that  time  were 
not  called  kings,  but  Drots,  and  Rig,  ruler  of  Skane, 
adopted  first  the  title  of  king.  A  new  generation  a.  d., 
begins  with  Dan  Mykillati  (The  Splendid).  250. 
Almost  all  historians  agree  that  he  was  the  founder  of 
the  country  called  Denmark.  Some  have  from  him 
derived  the  name  Denmark ;  but  it  is  more  probable 
that  it  has  originated  from  the  word  Dan,  denoting  low 
ox  flat,  and  from  Mark,  denoting  overgrown  with  wood; 
the  name  Denmark  thus  denoting  a  flat  land,  overgrown 
with  wood.  After  a  reign  of  forty  years,  with  the 
utmost  justice  and  reputation — thus  record  the  old  say- 
ings— he  died  greatly  lamented  by  his  subjects.  He 
ordered  his  courtiers  to  bury  him  solemnly,  and  in  full 
equipage,  in  a  hill ;  and  because  it  from  his  time  became 
customary  to  bury  the  kings  in  such  hills,  the  following 
age  is  called  the  Hill  Age.  At  a  subsequent  time  Rolf 
Krake  was  king.  The  graces  of  his  person  are  said  to 
have  equaled  those  of  his  mind ;  and  his  stature  and 
strength  to  have  been  so  extraordinary,  that  he  was 
surnamed  Krake;  an  old  Danish  word  expressive  of 
these  qualities.     He  has  become  famous  for  his  bravery 


46  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

and  martial  spirit,  and  for  the  twelve  giants  (Berserkers) 
he  kept  at  his  court ;  among  whom  Bjarke,  Hjelte^  and 
Wiggo  ought  to  be  named.  Berserker  is  a  word  of 
frequent  occurrence  in  the  Sagas,  and  denotes  giants  or 
warriors.  They  were  often  seized  with  a  kind  of  frenzy, 
either  arising  from  an  excited  imagination,  or  from  the 
use  of  stimulating  liquors — committing  then  the  wildest 
extravagances,  and  striking  indiscriminately  at  friends 
and  foes.  Rolf  Krake  was  killed  by  the  base  perfi- 
diousness  of  his  own  sister,  Skulda,  married  to  Hjartvar, 
Rolf's  viceroy  in  Skane,  whom  ho  had  distinguished  by 
numberless  instances  of  his  favor,  and  even  exempted 
him  from  paying  taxes  for  three  years.  Meanwhile 
Hjartvar,  prompted  by  his  wife,  buckled  for  war : 
making  haste,  at  the  time  expired,  to  Leire,  where  he 
in  the  night  assaulted  the  sleeping  king  and  his  Ber- 
serkers, who  had  intoxicated  themselves  at  a  banquet 
Rolf  had  given  in  honor  of  his  sister's  arrival.  Rolf  and 
A.  d.,  all  his  Berserkers  were  put  to  the  sword,  except 
600.  "Wiggo,  who  promised  to  avenge  the  death  of  the 
king.  He  kept  his  promise,  and  pierced  Hjartvar  with 
seven  dagger-stabs. 

In  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  the  brothers 
Rerek  and  Helge,  thus  sing  the. old  Sagas,  reigned 
jointly  in  Leire,  at  the  same  time  as  Ivar  Vidfadme 
(i.  e.,  who  surpasses  his  bounds,)  made  himself  ruler  over 
a  great  part  of  the  North,  besides  Sweden,  which  he 
already  ruled.     To  enter    into   possession  of   Sjelland, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  47 

he  gave  his  daughter,  Audur,  in  marriage  to  Rerek, 
though  she  herself  preferred  the  more  warlike  Helge. 
After  that,  he  kindled  variance  between  the  brothers,  so 
that  Rerek,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  killed  his  brother 
whereafter  Ivar  Vidfadme  succeeded  in  conquering 
Rerek  and  becoming  master  of  Sjelland.  But  some  time 
after,  Ivar  lost  his  life  on  an  expedition  to  Russia  a.  d., 
(Grarderige),  whither  his  widowed  daughter  had  70°- 
fled  for  refuge.  About  this  time  Hamlet,  a  Danish 
prince,  whom  Shakspeare  has  immortalized,  is  said  to 
have  enjoyed  for  a  great  number  of  years  the  Danish 
throne.  It  is,  however,  doubtful,  in  spite  of  assertions 
to  the  contrary,  whether  Hamlet  ever  was  king  of 
Denmark,  all  the  best  critics  affirming  that  he  was 
killed  in  a  battle,  just  as  he  was  endeavoring  by  force  to 
succeed  to  the  crown ;  and  even  Saxo  Grammaticus 
does  not  place  him  among  the  Danish  monarchs.  Harald 
Hildetand,  a  son  of  Rerek  and  Audur,  now  brought 
under  subjection  all  the  countries  his  grandfather,  Ivar 
Yidfadme,  had  ruled,  and  became  a  mighty  and  sove- 
reign king.  But,  after  bearing  sway  a  long  time  in 
peace,  Sigurd  Ring-,  his  nephew,  and  viceroy  in  Swe- 
den, raised  a  sedition  against  him.  The  memorable 
battle  was  fought  at  Bravallahede,  in  Smaland,  a.  d., 
Sweden,  where  the  most  noble  heroes  and  giants  73°- 
of  the  whole  North  encountered ;  amongst  whom  was 
the  notable  Stoerkodder,  whose  bravery  and  gigantic 
size  have  been  so  much  praised  in  the  heroic  songs.     But 


49  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Harald  Hildetand  fell  in  the  battle,  Sigurd  Ring  gaining 
the  victory  ;  whose  reign,  however,  is  not  worthy  of 
much  notice.  He  is  said  to  have  founded  the  city  of 
Ringsted,  in  Sjelland,  called  after  him.  The  more 
remarkable  has  his  son,  I&gner  Lodbrok,  become,  of 
whose  exploits  and  enterprises  of  hazard  the  old  sayings 
record  so  much.  Perpetually  roving  in  defiance  and 
war,  partly  on  the  southern  and  eastern  coasts  of  the 
Baltic,  partly  in  Flanders,  partly  in  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  England,  and  being  lord  and  ruler  wheresoever  he 
went,  he  was,  at  last,  captured  by  King  Ella,  of  Nor- 
thumberland, who,  so  say  the  English  historians,  threw 
him,  bound,  into  a  dungeon  filled  with  snakes,  vipers, 
A.  d.,  and  poisonous  animals ;  thus  ingloriously  putting 
794-  an  end  to  a  life  grown  old  in  glory  and  victory. 
The  great  Danish  historians,  Saxo  Grrammaticus,  Pon- 
tanus,  and  Meursius,  correspond  with  the  English  in 
this  circumstance.  His  four  sons  avenging  his  death, 
divided  now  the  wide-spread  realm  which  Ivar  Vid- 
fadme,  Harald  Hildetand,  and  Sigurd  Ring  had  gathered 
together.  Bjom  Jernside  obtained  Sweden,  Hvidscerk 
Jutland  and  Wenden,  Ivar  Beenlos  Northumberland, 
and  Sigurd  Snake-eye  Denmark,  Skane,  Halland  and 
Southern  Norway.  The  historian,  Meursius,  speaks  in 
high  terms  of  Sigurd  Snake-eye.  "  Grod,"  says  he, 
u  enabled  him  to  complete  a  reign  as  pregnant  with 
real  felicity  as  any  which  the  annals  of  Denmark  can 
show."     A  grandson  of  his  was  Gorm  the    Old,  who 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  49 

collected  the  separate  Danish  provinces  into  one  aggre- 
gate hody. 

Thus  has  been  traced  the  History  of  Scandinavia,  from 
the  fabulous  age  down  to  the  period  of  historical  evi 
dence ;  on  the  accounts  of  which  we  accordingly  could 
bestow  an  implicit  credit.  Christianity,  also,  now  com- 
menced to  be  preached ;  paganism  at  lengJi  entirely 
disappeared,  and  the  influence  of  a  purer  faith  became 
discernible  in  the  lives  and  actions  of  the  old  Norsemen. 


FIRST   PERIOD. 


FROM  THE  COLLECTION  OF  THE  SEPARATE  PROVINCES  INTO  ONE 
BODY,  AND  FROM  THE  FIRST  ENDEAVORS  TO  INTRODUCE  CHRIS- 
TIANITY, UNTIL  THE  DEATH  OF  VALDEMAR  VICTOR,  AND  THE 
ISSUING    OF    THE   JUTLANDISH    LAW,  1241. 


I. 

From  the  Foundation  of  the  Danish  Kingdom  till  A.  D.  1042. 

Promulgation  of  the  Gospel  by  Ansgarius — Gorm  the  Old  and  his  Queen, 
Thyra  Dannebod — Harald  Bluetooth — Christianity — Civil  War — Palnatoke 
— Svend  Splitbeard — Viking  Association — Battle  by  Svolder — Conquest 
of  England — Harald — Canute  the  Great — England  and  Denmark  united — 
Pilgrimage  to  Rome — Battle  by  Helge-River — Ulf  Jarl — Conquest  of  Nor- 
way— The  union  with  England  ceases. 

A  few  years  before  Grorm's  accession  to  the  Danish 
throne,  the  promulgation  of  Christianity  was  com- 
menced, but  met  with  great  opposition  from  the  warlike 
mind  and  rude  manners  of  the  people.  The  humble  and 
self-denying  spirit  taught  by  Christianity  was  in  no 
accordance  with  the  stubborn  mind  of  the  ancient 
Norsemen.  The  Christian  idea  of  the  life  to  come,  as  a 
spiritual  union  with  Grod  and  the  Saviour,  was  very 

much  opposed  to  the  hope  of  the  northern  pagans  for 
50 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  51 

Valhalla,  and  the  sensual  enjoyments  expected  there. 
The  doctrine  of  fasting,  abstemiousness,  and  chastening 
the  body,  displeased  the  Norsemen,  who  wished  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  which  this  life  offered  them,  and  appre- 
ciated a  strong  and  vigorous  body.  A  long  time,  there- 
fore, passed  away,  till  Christianity  as  an  active  principle 
entered  their  hearts  ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the 
victory  was  gained,  not,  as  in  many  adjacent  countries 
by  violence  and  compulsion,  but  by  the  intrinsic  power 
of  the  Grospel  itself.  Several  points,  also,  of  the  heathen 
doctrine  facilitated  the  introduction  of  Christianity. 
The  doctrine  of  the  pious  Balder,  of  the  destruction  of 
the  gods,  after  which  a  holy  and  righteous  Grod  was  to 
rule,  paved  the  way  for  the  Christian  ideas.  The  hea- 
thens' Loke,  Grimle,  and  Nastrond,  became  easily  the 
Christians'  devil,  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  hell ;  as  also 
the  outward  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  Catholic  divine 
service  influenced  the  tractable  mind  of  the  ancient 
Norsemen.  The  Frankish  emperors  (the  Franks  were 
some  petty  German  tribes,  who  in  the  fifth  century  had 
established  themselves  as  a  nation  in  the  provinces  lying 
between  the  Rhine,  the  Weser,  the  Maine  and  the  Elbe, 
including  the  greater  part  of  Holland  and  Westphalia,) 
endeavored  to  spread  Christianity  among  the  Norsemen, 
in  order  thereby  to  bridle  these  troublesome  neighbors. 
Charlemagne  had  with  violence  compelled  the  Saxons  to 
embrace  Christianity,  and  thus  deprived  the  people  of 
its  independence.     But  the  daring  and  efficient  Godfredi 


52  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

King  of  Jutland,  apprehending  his  designs,  protected  the 
Saxons,  and  commenced  war.  Making  large  progress, 
and  even  threatening  to  visit  Charlemagne  in  his  resi- 
dence, Aachen,  the  emperor  was  happy  enough  to  get 
rid  of  that  intelligent  and  brave  enemy,  Godfred  unfor- 
tunately being  treacherously  killed  by  one  of  his  own 
people.  His  successor,  Hemming,  made  peace  a.  d., 
with  Charlemagne,  by  which  the  river  Eider  was  81L 
appointed  the  limit  between  Denmark  and  Germany. 
Louis  the  Pious,  a  son  of  Charlemagne,  not  so  able  as 
his  father,  but  of  a  more  pious  mind,  concerned  himself 
very  much  in  spreading  Christianity  in  Denmark,  send- 
ing thither  the  Archbishop  Ebbe,  of  Rheims,  who,  never- 
theless, did  not  perform  anything  of  consequence.  But 
a  Jutlandish  sub-king,  Harald  Klak,  who  had  been 
banished  from  the  country,  fled  to  the  emperor  for 
refuge,  hoping  by  his  aid  to  regain  the  kingdom.  While 
staying  there,  Harald  was  baptized  in  Ingelheim,  by 
Mainz,  the  emperor  himself  being  sponsor  at  the  chris- 
tening, and  putting  on  him  the  white  baptismal  robe. 
It  was  after  his  return  from  Germany  that  we  may  date 
the  era  of  Christianity  in  Denmark.  Ansgarius,  called 
the  Northern  Apostle,  a  learned  and  pious  monk  in  the 
cloister  of  Corvey,  "Westphalia,  was  the  happy  instru- 
ment of  spreading  Christianity  in  the  North.  The 
emperor  was  looking  for  a  man  who  could  guide  Harald 
Klak  home,  strengthen  his  faith,  and  spread  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine  amongst  his  people.     Ansgarius  undertook 


HISTORY     OP     SCANDINAVIA.  53 

this  bold   and   difficult   enterprise ;    and,    attended    by 

another  energetic  monk,  Autbert,  arrived  in  Denmark, 

A.  d.,   where  he  first  resided  in  Hedeby  (now  the  city 

827-  of  Schleswig),  at  that  time  a  flourishing  commer- 
cial city,  and  erected  a  missionary  school,  preaching  the 
Kingdom  of  (rod,  and  teaching  those  things  which  con- 
cern the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Such  was  the  force  of 
truth — or  such,  perhaps,  the  inconstancy  of  human 
nature,  always  eager  after  novelty — that  Christianity 
spread  with  amazing  rapidity,  and  was  greatly  aided  in 
its  progress  by  the  zeal  and  piety  of  the  king.  After 
some  years'  preaching  and  baptizing  in  Denmark,  he 
went,  advised  by  the  emperor,  to  Sweden,  preaching 
Christianity  there  for  a  year  and  a  half.  The  emperor, 
learning  what  rapid  progress  the  new  doctrine  had  made 
in  Scandinavia,  purposed  now,  in  order  to  promote  it 
A.  d.,  still  further,  to  erect  an  archbishopric  in  Ham- 

834-  burg  ;  and  Ansgarius,  with  whose  Christian  zeal 
he  was  highly  pleased,  was  accordingly  appointed  Arch- 
bishop. Autbert,  his  faithful  and  pious  attender,  was 
already  dead,  deeply  bewailed  by  Ansgarius.  But  the 
Northern  Vikings  (freebooters)  some  time  after  attacking 
and  ravaging  Hamburg,  put  unfortunately  a  consider- 
able stop  to  the  missionary  undertaking  of  Ansgarius. 
Through  several  years  he  had  to  ramble  about,  helpless 
and  forsaken ;  while  the  disturbances,  which  broke 
out  at  the  soon  ensuing  death  of  the  emperor,  could 
but    withdraw    attention    from    the    advancement    of 

5* 


<>4  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Christianity  in  the  North.  Finally,  Louis  the  a.  d., 
German,  interesting  himself  in  the  subject,  845- 
united  the  bishopric  of  Bremen  with  the  archbishopric 
of  Hamburg,  and  took  care  of  Ansgarius,  who  anew 
commenced  to  preach,  set  the  school  of  Hedeby  again 
on  foot,  and,  because  of  the  favor  he  enjoyed  with  the 
Jutlandish  sub-king,  Erik,  was  permitted  to  build  in 
this  city  the  first  church — the  very  first — in  Denmark. 
But  upon  returning  from  another  journey  in  Sweden,  he 
found  King  Erik  dead,  and  Christianity  under  persecu- 
tion of  the  new  king,  who  put  several  of  the  most  devout 
and  zealous  Christians  to  death,  who  had  refused  to 
abjure  their  religion.  Others  he  forced  or  bribed  into  a 
compliance  with  his  will.  He  leveled  all  the  churches 
with  the  ground,  and  sent  an  army  to  ravage  Saxony, 
chiefly  because  the  people  of  that  country  had  received 
the  light  of  the  Gospel.  But  Ansgarius  spoke  so  con- 
vincingly to  the  king,  that  he  not  only  withdrew  his 
resentment,  which  had  grievously  oppressed  the  Chris- 
tians, but  published  entire  liberty  of  conscience,  and 
embraced  the  true  faith.  He  erected,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  magnificent  church  at  Ripen,  in  Southern 
Jutland,  ordered  the  pagan  temples  to  be  razed,  and  now 
became  as  zealous  a  Christian  as  a  little  before  he  had 
been  a  bigoted  heathen.  Upon  the  recommendation  of 
Ansgarius,  he  appointed  persons  properly  qualified  for 
teaching  the  Gospel  in  every  corner  of  his  dominions, 
allowed  them  handsome  salaries,  and  took  Ansgarius  for 
his  counselor,  not  only  in  spirituals  but  in  temporals 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  55 

likewise.  He  died  the  proselyte  and  chief  support  of 
that  religion  which,  only  a  few  years  "before,  he  had 
persecuted  with  such  cruelty  and  bitterness.  Of  the 
new  church  erected  by  him  at  Ripen,  Rembert,  a  disciple 
a.  d.,  of  Ansgarius,  was  appointed  minister.  At  sixty- 
865.  four  years  0f  age  Ansgarius  died  in  Bremen,  after 
a  powerful  and  self-denying  endeavor  for  spreading  the 
Grospel  in  Scandinavia.  Rembert,  above  mentioned, 
succeeded  him  in  the  archbishopric,  acting  with  the 
same  apostolic  zeal  as  his  great  teacher,  whose  biography 
he  has  written  and  published  in  Latin.  A  following 
king  of  Denmark,  by  the  name  of  Frotho,  prepared,  the 
better  to  propagate  the  faith,  an  embassy  to  Pope  Sergius 
III.,  to  acknowledge  his  supremacy  in  spirituals,  and  to 
request  that  he  would  send  some  persons  perfectly 
qualified  to  teach  the  Grospel  in  Denmark,  when  death 
claimed  him,  and  deprived  his  people  of  an  excellent 
prince.  The  spread  of  Christianity  in  Scandinavia  gave 
additional  vigor  to  the  papal  power,  for  the  Norsemen, 
with  all  the  zeal  of  new  converts,  became  eager  to  prove 
their  sincerity  by  some  enterprise  in  support  of  the 
pontiff,  whom  they  regarded  as  the  great  director  of  their 
faith   and  hope. 

Shortly  before  the  death  of  Ansgarius,  the  famous  and 
heroic  king  Harold  Hairfair,  of  Norway,  so  called  be- 
cause of  his  long  and  beautiful  hair,  commenced  his  bold 
A.  d.,  and  glorious  career.     He  ascended  the  throne  in 
863«    863.     At  that  time  Norway  was  divided  between 


56  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

thirty-one  petty  kings,  against  whom  he  immediately 
commenced  making  war,  till  they  all  were  subdued  and 
he  had  become  the  sole  ruler  of  all  Norway  himself. 
That  which  induced  him  to  wage  so  long  and  hazardous 
a  warfare,  was,  besides  his  ambition  and  strong  desire  of 
superiority,  his  intense  love  of  the  two  handsome  prin- 
cesses Ragna  and  Gyda.  Ragna  he  saw  at  a  Christmas 
festival,  and  wooed  her ;  but  she  said  that,  before  con- 
senting, she  should  wish  to  know  whether  he  or  another 
should  rule  Norway.  At  this  bold  question  the  king 
flew  into  a  passion ;  but  the  young  lady  answered  calmly, 
"I  should  deem  it  more  proper  if  thou  didst  pour  out 
thine  anger  upon  all  those  petty  kings  with  whom  the 
country  swarms."  Apt  words  have  power  to  assuage 
the  heat  of  a  passionate  mind.  The  king  confessed  the 
truth  of  her  remark,  and  promised  not  only  to  war 
against  all  of  them  as  long  as  one  was  left,  but  he  even 
enacted  a  law  that  forbade  all  violence  against  women, 
under  the  penalty  of  banishment.  Afterward,  Harold 
was  enamoured  of  the  beautiful  Gyda,  who  had  been 
brought  up  with  a  rich  peasant.  Embassadors  were  sent 
to  court  her  in  behalf  of  the  king.  The  proud  Gyda 
answered,  "Please  tell  the  king  that  I  will  give  him  my 
hand  and  my  heart,  but  only  upon  the  condition  that 
he  makes  himself  indisputable  sovereign  of  all  Norway, 
and  rules  this  realm  with  the  same  supremacy  with  which 
the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden  do  theirs."  No  sooner 
was  this  answer  conveyed  to  Harold  than  he  exclaimed, 


HISTORY    OP    SCANDINAVIA.  57 

"I  swear,  by  Him  who  made  me  and  all  that  is,  that  I 
will  neither  cut  nor  comb  my  hair  until  all  Norway  has 
A. D.,  submitted  to  my  authority!"  Harold  faithfully 
936-  kept  his  word,  and  at  his  death  the  whole  king- 
dom was  subject  to  his  sceptre.  But  not  only  the  tre- 
mendous power  which  he  wielded  in  a  military  point  of 
view  makes  him  remarkable ;  he  is  still  more  remarkable 
for  his  trampling  under  foot  all  the  objects  of  credulity 
and  idle  superstition  then  so  deeply  rooted  in  his  sub- 
jects, and  for  raising  his  mind  to  the  invisible  Master, 
the  Father  of  the  sun  and  all  the  universe.  His  words 
in  a  political  assembly  in  the  year  932,  when  Christianity 
had  not  yet  found  its  way  to  that  country,  deserve  to  be 
quoted:  "I  swear,  in  the  most  sacred  manner,  that  I  will 
never  offer  sacrifices  to  any  of  the  gods  adored  by  my 
people,  but  to  Him  only  who  has  formed  the  world  and 
what  I  behold  in  it." 

He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  son  Erik,  who 
had  to  wage  incessant  wars  against  his  brethren,  all  of 
whom  he  killed  with  the  exception  of  Hakon,  who  went 
to  England,  where  he  ingratiated  himself  with  the  Eng- 
lish king  Adelstan,  who  adopted  him.  Erik,  to  whom  on 
account  of  his  cruelty  was  given  the  surname  Blood-axe, 
was,  after  a  reign  of  two  years,  dethroned,  and  went  to 
the  Orkney  Isles,  where  he  for  a  long  time  made  his 
living  by  piracy,  till  he  finally  was  elected  King  of 
Northumberland.  Already  before  Erik  was  dethroned, 
Hakon  had  returned  to  Norway  with  the  view  of  taking 


58  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

possession  of  his  ancestral  throne,  assisted  by  a  powerful 
army  and  fleet  equipped  by  the  English  king  Adelstan. 
The  enormous  cruelties  committed  by  his  brother  Erik 
Blood-axe,  and  an  argumentative,  eloquent,  and  forcible 
speech  of  Sigurd  Jarl,  at  that  time  considered  the  wisest 
man  of  all  Norway,  facilitated  his  plan,  and  upon  Erik's 
dethronement  Hakon  was  unanimously  elected  a.  d., 
King  of  Norway,  and,  in  grateful  remembrance  938« 
of  his  foster-father,  he  assumed  the  name  Hakon  Adel- 
stan. The  sagas  of  the  old  Norwegian  kings,  composed 
by  the  celebrated  Icelander  Snorre,  speak  in  the  highest 
terms  of  him :  he  protected  the  country  against  foreign 
aggression;  increased  it  by  the  two  Swedish  provinces 
Jemteland  and  Helsingland;  enacted  judicious  laws,  and 
tried  to  introduce  Christianity,  by  building  churches  and 
sending  for  preachers  from  England.  But  an  influential 
peasant,  by  the  name  of  Asbj<5rn,  delivered  a  public 
speech  strongly  in  favor  of  the  pagan  worship,  in  which 
he  told  the  king  that  all  Norway  would  desert  him  and 
swear  allegiance  to  another,  unless  he  desisted  from  his 
purpose.  Hakon  Adelstan  had,  therefore,  to  abandon 
his  noble  plan,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  introducing  the 
Christian  faith  at  his  court.  For  nineteen  years  he  ruled 
Norway  in  peace,  when  suddenly  the  sons  of  Erik  Blood- 
axe  laid  claim  to  the  throne,  one  of  whom,  Harold  Grey- 
skin,  unexpectedly  arrived  with  a  mighty  fleet  just  as 
Hakon  was  sitting  at  a  festival-table  on  the  island 
Stord,  close  by  Bergen.     Eivind,  the  king's  court-skald, 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  59 

seeing  the  hostile  fleet  from  a  hill,  hastened  to  the  king, 
crying  out,  "It  is  no  longer  time  to  eat,  king:  the  sons 
of  Blood-axe  are  about  to  attack  thee!"  The  king,  im- 
mediately jumping  from  his  chair,  asked,  "What  shall 
we  do? — remain,  or  flee?"  But  they  all  cried  that  they 
would  rather  die  than  betake  themselves  to  their  heels. 
At  this  answer  the  king's  mind  abandoned  itself  to 
ecstasy;  and,  with  a  gilded  helmet  on  his  head,  the 
costly  sword  at  his  side  called  quern-biter,  because  it 
was  so  sharp  that  it  could  cut  a  hand-millstone  through 
right  to  the  eye, — a  present  from  the  English  king, — and 
a  javelin  in  his  hand,  he  went  to  meet  his  foes,  who  were 
drawn  up  on  the  shore.  The  victory  gained  was  de- 
cisive; but  when,  in  the  heat  of  his  passion,  he  was  fol- 
lowing up  the  victory,  the  noble  Norwegian  king  was 
A.  D.,  mortally  wounded  by  an  arrow,  and  died.  His 
963-  death  was  universally  lamented,  and  the  respect 
in  which  he  was  held  was  strikingly  exhibited  at  his 
funeral.  And,  indeed,  all  Norway  had  good  reason  to 
lament  the  loss  of  the  noble  Hakon  Adelstan ;  for,  his 
successor,  Harold  G-reyskin,  so  called  from  a  grey  skin 
with  which  some  Icelandic  merchants  had  presented  him, 
showed  himself  highly  unequal  to  the  task  of  a  ruler. 
Contemporaneously  with  Rembert's  efforts  for  preach- 
A.  D.,  ing  and  spreading  Christianity,  Q-orm  the  Old 
882-941.  was  ting  of  Denmark.  He  is  chiefly  to  be  re- 
membered for  collecting  all  the  small  provinces  into 
one   body.     At   that  time   the  Danish  kingdom   com- 


60  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

priced  Sjelland,  with  the  adjacent  islands,  Jutland  and 
South  Jutland  (now  Schleswig),  where  the  Eider  river 
was  the  limit  towards  the  south,  and  Skane,  Hal- 
land,  and  Bleking,  in  Southern  Sweden.  But,  though 
these  parts  were  now  thus  united,  they  preserved  for 
a  long  space  of  time  their  popular  peculiarities,  each 
part  having  its  own  laws,  and  the  king  receiving  his 
homage  separately  in  each  province.  We  are  not  able 
to  detail  many  facts  of  the  reign  of  Gorm  the  Old,  but 
we  know,  however,  that  he  was  a  bitter  enemy  to  the 
Christians,  whom  he  persecuted  in  every  quarter,  demol- 
ishing their  churches  and  banishing  their  clergy. 
Amongst  other  sacred  buildings,  he  totally  destroyed 
the  famous  cathedral  in  Schleswig,  and  ordered  the 
pagan  idols  to  be  erected  wherever  they  had  formerly 
stood.  While  his  two  sons,  Canute  and  Harald — twins 
by  birth,  and  rivals  in  glory — were  gathering  laurels 
abroad,  Gorm  took  arms  against  the  Saxons,  with  a 
view  to  oblige  them  to  renounce  Christianity,  but  the 
emperor,  Henry  the  Fowler,  soon  came  to  the  a.  d., 
relief  of  the  Saxons,  defeated  Gorm,  and  forced  9'-°- 
him  to  permit  Christianity  to  be  preached  in  Denmark. 
Gorm's  queen,  generally  called  Thyra  Dannebod  (the 
ornament  or  solace  of  the  Danes),  has  rendered  herself 
distinguished  by  founding  Dannevirke  (a  great  wall  of 
earth  and  stones  across  Schleswig,  strongly  fortified  by 
moats  and  tower  bastions),  to  protect  the  country  against 
inroads  of  the  Germans.     Already  Godfred,  before  men 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  61 

tioned,  had  erected  a  like  fortification,  called  Kurvirke, 
but  the  irruption  of  Henry  the  Fowler  had  proved  that 
the  country  needed  a  stronger  bulwark,  wherefore  the 
queen  founded  that  famous  Dannevirke,  remnants  of 
which  are  yet  to  be  seen.  Grorm,  loving  his  son  Canute, 
generally  called  Canute  Danaast  (the  Splendor  of  the 
Danes),  more  than  Harald,  declared,  dreading  the  death 
of  his  dearly  beloved  son,  of  whom  he  for  a  great  while 
had  received  no  intelligence,  that  whosoever  might  tell 
him  of  his  son's  death  should  lose  his  life.  Finally, 
notice  was  given  of  his  death  on  a  Yiking  expedition 
in  England.  The  queen,  not  risking  to  tell  it  to  the 
king,  made  the  courtiers  observe  an  unusual  silence  at 
the  table,  and  had  the  apartment  covered  with  black 
cloth.  Gruessing  the  reason,  G-orm  cried  out:  "  Surely 
Canute,  my  dear  son,  is  dead,  for  all  Denmark  is  mourn- 
ing !  "  "  Thou  sayest  so,  not  i,"  answered  the  queen ; 
A.  D.,   upon  which  the  king  sickened  with  grief,  and 

94L    died  in  a  good  old  age. 

Harald  Bluetooth,  his  son,  was  immediately  elected 
king,  but  he  refused  to  accept  the  crown  until  he  had 
first  performed  his  father's  obsequies  with  all  the  magni- 
ficence becoming  his  high  rank.  About  the  same  time 
Hakon  Adelstan  was  King  of  Norway,  who  had  to  fight 
with  his  nephews,  sons  of  King  Erik  Bloodaxe  ;  of  all  of 
whom,  Harald  Grreyskin,  countenanced  and  supported  by 
the  Danish  king,  succeeded,  after  the  death  of  Hakon 
Adelstan,  in  ascending  the  throne  of  Norway.     But,  as 


62  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

he  did  not  pay  the  tribute  promised  the  Danish  king  for 
his  support,  hostility  broke  out,  and  Hakon  Jarl,  whose 
father,  Sigurd,  had  been  killed  by  Harald  Grreyskin,  now 
found  refuge  in  Denmark,  inflaming  the  enmity  between 
the  kings  to  an  extreme  degree.  At  the  same  time  Gold 
Harald,  a  son  of  Canute  Danaast,  above  mentioned,  and 
consequently  a  nephew  of  Harald  Bluetooth,  had  come 
back  from  his  piracies,  and  claimed  now,  by  virtue  of 
supposed  right,  a  share  of  the  Danish  Kingdom.  Hakon 
Jarl  advised  the  king  to  kill  Harald  Grreyskin,  and  then, 
to  gratify  his  nephew's  wish  to  a  certain  extent,  to  let 
him  have  Norway ;  of  which  advice  the  king  approved. 
Accordingly,  Harald  Grreyskin  was  now,  under  pretence 
of  friendship,  allured  down  from  Norway,  and  killed  by 
the  Lymfiord  (a  river  running  through  the  northern  part 
of  Jutland),  by  Grold  Harald ;  who  was,  however,  soon 
after  insidiously  murdered  by  Hakon  Jarl,  who  had 
made  the  king  believe  that  Grold  Harald  hardly  could 
bear  so  great  honor.  This  heinous  action  done,  Harald 
Bluetooth  sailed  with  wind  upon  the  beam  to  Norway, 
which  he  easily  conquered,  and  divided  between  Hakon 
Jarl  and  Harald  Grrsenske,  a  Norwegian  prince ;  after 
whose  death,  soon  ensuing,  Hakon  Jarl  became  ruler 
of  all  Norway ;  under  oath,  however,  of  allegiance 
to  Harald  Bluetooth.  Thus  Norway  became  a  province 
to  Denmark.  After  Harald  Bluetooth  had  settled  this 
affair,  he  sailed  against  the  Venders,  who  committed 
horrid  depredations  on  all  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  but 


*  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  63 

he  attacked  them  with  such  vigor,  that  he  reduced  and 
plundered  all  their  strongholds,  and,  among  the  rest,  the 
rich  and  important  city  of  Wollin,  built  on  an  island  of 
the  same  name,  which  is  formed  by  two  branches  of 
the  river  Oder.  But  he  had  scarce  rid  his  hands  of  this 
war  when  his  aid  and  protection  were  solicited  by  Styr- 
bear,  King  of  Sweden,  who  was  driven  out  of  his  own 
dominions  by  Erik  Victor.  To  enforce  his  request  Styr- 
bear  had  brought  along  with  him  Gyntha,  his  sister, 
a  lady  of  admirable  beauty.  The  stratagem  had  the 
intended  effect ;  Harald  Bluetooth  became  enamored  of 
her,  married  her,  and  promised  the  brother  all  the  assist- 
a.  d.,  ance  in  his  power.     Nevertheless  Styrbear  was 

983-  defeated  by  Erik  Victor,  at  Fyriswall,  neat 
Upsala. 

The  progress  of  Christianity,  which  G-orm  the  Old  had 
resisted  and  disregarded,  began  now  to  attract  the  notice 
of  the  ruling  power,  and  was,  during  the  whole  reign 
of  Harald  Bluetooth,  vigorously  promoted  by  Adeldag, 
who  now  was  invested  with  the  archiepiscopal  see  of 
Hamburg.  Besides  the  two  churches  in  Schleswig  and 
Ripen,  above  mentioned,  a  third  was  built  in  Aarhuus,  sit- 
uated on  the  eastern  coast  of  Jutland,  and  bishoprics  were 
established  in  said  cities.  But,  although  in  favor  of  the 
A.  d.,   new  doctrine,  the  king  would  not  comply  with  the 

955-  exorbitant  and  undue  claims  which  the  German 
emperor,  Otho  I.,  arrogated  to  himself.  The  Grerman 
kings  claimed,  by  virtue  of  their  dignity  as  Roman  empe- 


64  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  , 

rors,  to  be  acknowledged  the  secular  head  of  the  whole 
Christian  world,  as  the  Pope  was  the  ecclesiastical ; 
which  claim  Otho  L  realized  by  giving  to  those  bishoprics 
above  mentioned,  immunity  and  real  estates  in  Den- 
mark. His  successor,  Otho  II.,  claiming  the  same, 
excited  the  resentment  of  Harald  Bluetooth,  who  col- 
lected all  his  forces,  and  pitched  his  camp  on  the  narrow 
neck  of  land  at  Schleswig,  to  intercept  Otho,  but  a.  d., 
was  defeated,  the  mighty  emperor  demolishing  974- 
the  famous  fortification,  Dannevirke,  and  making  his 
way  through  the  country  right  up  to  the  Lymfiord.  A 
treaty  of  peace  was  made,  and  the  king  received  baptism 
by  Bishop  Popo— Otho,  the  emperor,  being  sponsor — and 
the  same  ceremony  was  performed  on  his  son,  Swen. 
Bishoprics  were  now  also  established  in  Odensee  and  in 
Roeskilde,  where  Harald  Bluetooth  erected  a  splendid 
church.  Odinkar  Hvide,  a  native  Dane,  commenced 
now  to  preach  Christianity,  and  annihilate  the  pagan 
worship ;  all  of  which  excited  the  resentment  of  the 
heathen  party,  in  front  of  which  went  the  king's  own 
son,  Swen,  and  his  master-in-arms,  Palnatoke,  a  mighty 
chief  from  the  Danish  island  Fjunen,  who  from  the  depth 
of  his  heart  was  addicted  to  heathenism,  and  besides 
that,  believed  to  have  several  personal  offences  to  be 
avenged  upon  the  king.  Harald  Bluetooth,  however, 
determined  not  to  be  wanting  in  his  duty,  raised  an 
army  and  gave  battle  to  his  son,  who  aspired  a.  d., 
to  his  father's  crown.     But  the  king  was  defeat-    99L 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  65 

sd,  and  shot  by  the  hand  of  Palnatoke,  while  hi  was 
walking  in  a  grove  near  his  camp.  Before  leaving 
Harald  Bluetooth,  it  ought  to  be  noticed  that  he  removed 
the  royal  residence  from  Leire  (Lethra)  to  Roeskilde, 
where  the  Danish  kings  resided  for  about  five  cen- 
turies, till  Copenhagen,  during  the  reign  of  Christopher 
of  Bavaria,  was  made  the  capital. 

Harald  Bluetooth  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Swen, 
A.  D.,  generally  called  Swen  Splitbeard,  from  some 
<)9i-ioi4.  peculiarity  observed  about  his  beard.  He  is  also 
sometimes  called  Swen  Otho,  in  compliment  to  his  god- 
father, the  emperor.  Nearly  all  his  time  was  spent  in 
making  expeditions  to  Norway,  Germany,  and  England. 
Notwithstanding  Swen  Splitbeard  and  the 'mighty  chief, 
Palnatoke,  above  mentioned,  had  been  on  a  very  intimate 
footing,  their  good  understanding  soon  ceased ;  for  the 
murder  committed  by  Palnatoke  on  his  father,  Harald 
Bluetooth,  required  vengeance  of  blood.  Palnatoke  re- 
sorted to  Jomsburg,  a  fortress  on  the  Island  of  Riigen,  on 
the  coast  of  Pomerania,  founded  by  Harald  Bluetooth  to 
maintain  the  Danish  dominion  in  these  regions.  Here 
Palnatoke  established  a  band  of  northern  Yikings,  who, 
by  severe  laws,  j  reserved  the  ancient  warfaring  life  and 
manners,  and  by  the  name  of  Jomsvikings,  for  a  long 
time  struck  tha  whole  North  with  fear.  Palnatoke's 
institutions  tended  to  instil  into  his  Yikings  the  contempt 
of  life.  "A  man,"  says  the  chronicle  of  Iceland,  "in 
order  to  acquire  glory  for  bravery,  should  attack  a  sicglo 


66  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

enemy,  defend  himself  against  two,  and  not  yield  to 
three,  but  might,  without  disgrace,  fly  from  four ;"  and 
it  was,  on  the  whole,  glorious  to  seek  every  opportunity 
of  encountering  death.  Some  instances  of  their  savagre 
heroism  are  recorded  which  almost  exceed  belief.  In  an 
irruption  made  by  the  Jomsburgers  into  Norway,  the 
invaders  were  defeated,  and  a  few  were  taken  prisoners. 
They  were  sentenced  to  be  beheaded,  and  this  intelli- 
gence they  received  with  every  demonstration  of  joy. 
One  said :  "I  suffer  death  with  the  greatest  pleasure  ;  I 
only  request  that  you  will  cut  off  my  head  as  quickly  as 
possible.  We  have  often  disputed,"  said  he,  "  at  Joms- 
burg,  whether  life  remained  for  any  time  after  the  head 
was  cut  off:  now  I  shall  decide  the  question.  But  remem- 
ber, if  so,  I  shall  aim  a  blow  at  you  with  this  knife  which 
I  hold  in  my  hand.  Dispatch,"  said  he,  "  but  do  not 
abuse  my  long  hair,  for  it  is  very  beautiful."  Not  till 
the  eleventh  century  was  this  piratical  stronghold 
destroyed  by  Magnus  the  Grood.  The  following  chief  of 
Jomsburg,  the  designing  Sigvald,  by  stratagem  made 
Swen  Splitbeard,  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  him, 
a  prisoner,  and  compelled  him  to  acknowledge  the  inde- 
pendence of  Jomsburg  and  Yenden  (all  the  provinces 
along  the  Baltic) ;  and  Swen  was  first  set  at  liberty  on. 
promising  to  pay  a  ransom  of  twice  his  own  weight, 
when  full  armed,  in  pure  gold.  The  ransom  was  settled 
at  three  payments,  but  the  king's  person  was  confined 
till  the  last  payment  was  made,  which  was  raised  by 


HISTORY    OP     SCANDINAVIA.  67 

the  generosity  of  the  Danish  ladies,  who  sold  their  jewels 
for  this  purpose.  Upon  his  return  he,  therefore,  ordained 
that  the  women  should  inherit  the  half  of  all  estates, 
teal  and  personal ;  although  it  seems  more  probable  that 
such  an  act  of  benevolence  and  kindness  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  mild  influence  of  the  Grospel,  that  offers 
the  same  rights  to  both  sexes.  Swen  Splitbeard,  thirst- 
ing for  vengeance,  induced  Sigvald,  at  a  wassail-bout, 
to  undertake  a  very  hazardous  expedition  against  the 
mighty  Hakon  Jarl,  in  Norway,  who  had  shown  the 
same  unwillingness  to  pay  tribute  to  Denmark  as  his 
predecessor,  Harald  Grreyskin ;  Swen  himself  making  a 
vow  to  wage  war  against  England,  which  had  for  some 
years  thrown  off  her  subjection  to  the  throne  of  Den- 
mark. The  elsewhere  almost  indomitable  Jomsvikings 
A.  D.,  were  totally  defeated  at  Hjorringebay ;  Sigvald 
"4-  himself  had  to  make  his  escape,  and  "Norway 
was  not  subdued.  Swen*  Splitbeard  was  more  success- 
ful in  his  expedition  against  England.  The  impotent 
Anglo-Saxon  king,  Ethelred  II ,  also  called  Ethelred  the 
Irresolute,  held  at  this  time  the  supreme  authority  in 
that  kingdom.  Putting  all  to  the  fire  and  sword,  wher- 
ever he  went,  and  treating  England  with  the  utmost 
severity,  Swen  obliged  the  English  king  to  acknowledge 
his  superiority,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  Danes  by  pay- 
ing a  large  sum  of  money,  called  Danegeld.  But  an 
important  event  took  place  now  in  the  North.  The  Nor- 
wegian prince,  Olaf  Trygveson,  who  had  been  allied  to 


68  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Sweii  in  England,  left  him  treacherously  for  Norway, 
the  throne  of  which  he  ascended,  after  the  death  of 
Hakon  Jarl,  without  taking  any  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Swen,  who  from  his  ancestors  had  inherited  the  sover- 
eignty over  Norway ;  and  the  misunderstanding  increased 
when  Olaf,  without  Swen's  consent,  married  his  sister 
Thyra,  who  had  fled  from  her  husband,  King  Burislaw, 
of  Venden.     Add  to  this,  that  Sigrid  Storraade,  Swen 
Splitbeard's  queen,   before  married  to    Erik  Victor,  of 
Sweden,  had  been  greatly  provoked  to  wrath  against 
Olaf  Trygveson,  who,  when  he   some   years  ago  had 
courted  her,  but  without  success,  had  beaten  her  with 
a  stick,  and  called  her  an  old  hag  of  threescore  and 
a  pagan  bitch.     She,  of  course,  now  urged  both  her  hus- 
band and  her  son,  Olaf  Skotkonung,  of  Sweden,  to  ven- 
geance.    Swen  Splitbeard,  Olaf  Skotkonung,  and  Erik 
Jarl,  a  Norwegian  prince,  who  lived  at  the  Danish  court, 
attacked  Olaf  Trygveson,  who  with  his  fleet  had  gone 
through  Earsound  (Oeresund,  the  small  sound  between 
Denmark  and  Sweden),  to  Yenden,  where  his9ths 
wife  was  lawfully  possessed  of  some  real  estates.   A.  d., 
A  very  bloody  sea-battle  was  fought  by  Swolder,    100°" 
on  the  Pomeranian  coast.     Seldom  a  more  memorable 
naval  engagement  has  been  fought,  whether  we  regard 
the  kings  that  contended,  or  the  whole  kingdom  that 
was   in   dispute.     Olaf  Trygveson   was,    after   a  most 
heroic  resistance,  defeated,  and  his  fleet  totally  dispersed. 
Escaping  out  of  the  battle  with  a  few  ships,  he  was  so 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  69 

closely  pursued,  that,  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  "being 
taken  prisoner,  he  precipitated  himself  into  the  sea  and 
was  drowned.  The  most  renowned  heroes  of  Norway 
shared  in  this  battle,  and  the  heroic  songs  of  Einar  Tam- 
beskjelver,  the  great  archer,  Ulf  the  Red,  and  Thorgeir, 
who  all  fought  as  madmen,  resound  yet  among  the  rocks 
of  old  Norway,  which  was  now  divided  between  the 
three  victors,  and  had  to  submit  to  the  conditions  which 
they  dictated.  But  while  Swen  was  taken  up  with 
settling  the  affairs  of  Norway,  Ethelred  II.  had  taken 
advantage  of  Swen's  absence  to  perform  a  dreadful  car- 
A.  D.,  nage  among  the  Danes  in  England.  Informed 
1002-  of  it,  Swen  immediately  appeared  in  England 
with  a  powerful  army  of  the  most  valiant  soldiers,  came 
off  victor  everywhere,  turned  Ethelred  out,  who  had  to 
flee  to  Normandy ;  and  Swen  Splitbeard  was  at  his 
A.  d.,  death  an  undisputed  sovereign  of  the  whole  of 
lou.  England,  and  with  all  good  reason  he  was 
called  not  only  a  great  warrior  and  a  mighty  king,  but 
the  most  successful  ruler  of  his  time.  Encomium 
Emmo*  calls  Swen ;  "  omnium  sui  temporis  regum 
fortunatissimum."  He  died  February  3d,  1014,  in 
Gainsborough,  England,  where  he  on  this  day,  on 
horseback,  held  court.  Suddenly  seized  with  vio- 
lent convulsions,  he  expired  in  the  evening.  The 
old  legends  tell  that  the  holy  Edmund,  the  tutelar 
saint  of  England,  killed  him,  because  he  had  ventured 

*  See  Langebek,  Script.  II.,  p.  474. 


70  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

to  deny  Edmund's  saintship.  Ethelred,  exasperated 
on  account  of  S  wen's  victory,  caused  the  closest  inves- 
tigations to  be  made  in  order  to  find  the  royal  corpse 
and  mangle  it ;  but  an  English  woman  of  high  rank, 
probably  of  Danish  extraction,  had  concealed  it, 
and  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  able,  unnoticed,  to 
convey  it  to  Denmark,  where  it  was  interred  in  the 
same  Trinity  church  in  the  city  of  Roeskilde,  in  which 
his  royal  father,  Harold  Bluetooth,  23  years  before,  had 
been  entombed.  In  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  he  per- 
secuted the  Christian  doctrine ;  but,  before  he  expired, 
he  began  to  perceive  the  folly  he  had  committed,  in 
persecuting  the  faith  in  which  he  had  been  baptized 
and  instructed.  Afterwards,  in  prevailing  upon  the 
people  to  receive  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  he  was  aided 
by  JPqpOy  a  German  bishop  of  great  piety  and  elo- 
quence, who,  by  dint  of  example  and  persuasion, 
brought  about  what  the  king's  authority  could  not 
effect.  Several  miracles  are  related  of  this  prelate ; 
and,  indeed,  he  was  possessed  of  the  happy  talent  of 
impressing  the  people  with  whatever  notions  he 
thought  fit ;  in  which  alone,  of  course,  consisted  his 
supernatural  powers.  A  see  was  given  to  Popo,  with 
power  to  preside  over  the  Danish  clergy ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  he  was  suffragan  of  Adeldag,  Archbishop 
of  Hamburg. 

During  the  reign  of  Swen,  and  already  long  before, 
the  Danes,  being  then  nothing  but  a  set  of  pirates,  had 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  71 

mercilessly  pillaged  and  ravaged  Ireland.  At  length 
Brian  JBoromhe,  the  great  monarch  of  Ireland,  arose, 
defeated  the  Danes  in  twenty-five  engagements,  and 
at  the  battle  of  Olontarf,  Good  Friday,  April  23d, 
1014,  totally  routed  them,  but  the  valiant  king  sealed 
Ireland's  liberty  with  his  blood.  The  annals  of  Inis- 
f  alien  give  an  interesting  account  of  Brian's  address 
to  his  forces  immediately  before  this  memorable 
battle.  He  rode  through  the  ranks  in  the  twilight  of 
morning,  accompanied  by  his  son  Morrogh,  who  also 
fell,  reminded  the  troops  of  the  bloody  sacrifice  which 
was  commemorated  on  Good  Friday ;  and,  holding  up 
the  crucifix  in  his  left  hand,  and  his  golden-hilted 
sword  in  the  right,  declared  that  he  was  willing  to  die 
in  so  just  and  honorable  a  cause.  Thomas  Moore,  the 
gifted  Irish  poet,  thus  writes  : 

"  From  Irish  shores  forever  was  swept  that  day  the  Dane — 
But  the  old  king  and  his  valiant  son  were  numbered  with  the 
slain." 

It  is  told,  that  before  this  battle  the  brave  king, 
Brian,  at  the  midhour  of  the  night,  saw  a  vision,  as  he 
slumbered,  and  that  a  woman,  pale  but  beautiful,  thus 
spoke  to  the  sleeper : 

"  King !  unto  thee  'tis  given  to  triumph  o'er  the  Dane — 
To  drive  his  routed  army  forth  unto  the  northern  main ; 
But  the  palace  of  thy  fathers,  thou  shalt  never  see  again, 
Thou,  and  the  son  thou  lovest,  shall  sleep  among  the  slain." 


72  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  Danish  tyranny,  which  Ire- 
land had  for  a  long  period  endured.  Indeed,  the  victory 
which  was  gained  was  dearly  bought;  nevertheless, 
freedom  was  exchanged  for  servitude  and  oppression, 
and  loud  joy  resounded  throughout  the  Emerald  Isle. 

Swen  Splitbeard  had  two  sons,  Harald  and  Canute ; 
and  the  Danish  historian,  Meursius,  says,  "  that  Harald, 
by  right  of  primogeniture,  succeeded  his  father  to  the 
throne  of  Denmark,  while  Canute,  who  at  Swen's  death 
lived  in  England,  was  elected  King  of  the  Danes  there." 
But  the  Englishmen,  taking  advantage  of  Canute's 
youth,  threw  off  the  subjection  they  had  promised  his 
father,  Swen  Splitbeard,  and  called  the  fugitive  Ethelred 
II.  back  from  Normandy,  and  a  general  insurrection 
broke  out.  After  having  ordered  the  tongues  and  ears 
of  the  English  hostages  to  be  cut  off,  and,  on  the  whole, 
shown  an  inflexible  severity,  Canute  repaired  to  Den- 
mark, where  he  brought  together  a  numerous  host  of 
brave  soldiers,  and  a  well-manned  fleet,  with  which  he 
went  back  to  England,  accompanied  by  Erik  Jarl,  from 
Norway,  Thorkel  the  High,  and  Ulf  Jarl,  who  after- 
wards married  Canute's  sister,  Estrith.  He  met  with 
the  English  fleet,  commanded  by  King  Ethelred  in  per- 
son, whom  he  defeated  after  a  sharp  engagement.  The 
valiant  Edmund  Ironside,  who  had  succeeded  his  father 
Ethelred  on  the  throne  of  England,  was  forced  a.  d., 
to  yield  the  half  of  England  to  Canute.  But  a  1017- 
month  after,  Edmund  Ironside  was  treacherously  killed 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  73 

by  his  brother-in-law,  Edrik  Streon,  whereupon  Canute 
was  acknowledged  king  of  the  whole  of  England.  The 
first  measure  of  Canute  was  now  to  seize  Edmund's  two 
sons,  whom  he  sent  to  his  ally,  the  King  of  Sweden, 
Anund  Jacob,  with  the  request  that  they  might  be  put 
to  death.  Humanity,  however,  induced  the  Swedish 
monarch  to  spare  their  lives  and  send  them  into  Hun- 
gary. Canute,  now  ruler  of  England,  tried  to  make 
himself  both  beloved  and  esteemed  there  ;  he  reigned 
with  great  judiciousness,  paid  respect  to  the  privileges 
of  the  native  people,  and  raised  them  to  the  highest 
offices  ;  advanced  commerce  and  literature,  and  courted, 
in  a  particular  manner,  the  favor  of  the  Church,  by 
munificent  donations,  and  by  presenting  monasteries 
with  rich  gifts ;  and  he  has,  indeed,  much  better  title  to 
saintship  than  many  of  those  who  adorn  the  Roman 
calendar.  To  make  himself  yet  more  popular,  he  wisely 
married  the  virtuous  Emma  of  Normandy,  the  queen- 
dowager  of  Ethelred,  whom  the  English  people  loved 
dearly.  But  while  he  thus  tried  to  make  himself 
popular,  and  provide  for  the  welfare  of  the  State,  his 
despotism  and  cruelty  were  often  insupportable,  and 
those  whose  influence  seemed  pernicious  to  him,  he  was 
not  scrupulous  in  putting  out  of  the  way.  Thus  he 
caused  Edrik  Streon  and  Thorkel  the  High  to  be  killed  ; 
the  first  of  whom  was  invested  with  Mercia,  the  latter 
with  East  Anglia,  as  absolute  fiefs.  To  confirm  his 
power,  and  perform  the  conquests  he  had  in  view,  he 


74 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


established  a  standing  army,  called  the  Thingmannalid, 
consisting  of  the  most  famous  warriors ;  and,  on  account 
of  the  sumptuous  armor  they  had  to  wear,  containing 
only  the  richest  and  most  conspicuous.  To  this  army 
he  gave  a  peculiar  law,  called  the  Vitherlagslaw,  which 
for  a  long  time  enjoyed  a  great  credit  in  Europe. 

His  brother  Harald,  King  of  Denmark,  died  after  a 
reign  of  four  years.  "Weak  from  his  infancy,  he  a.  d., 
was  little  able  to  rule,  and  his  profligacy,  entire  1018- 
contempt  of  decency  and  morality,  rendered  him  odious 
to  his  subjects.  Nothing  need  be  said  of  him  but  that 
he  reigned  four  years  ;  whereupon  Canute,  generally 
called  Canute  the  Great,  was  unanimously  chosen  to 
succeed  him  on  the  Danish  throne,  which  thus,  after  an 
interval  of  only  four  years,  was  reunited  with  England ; 
which,  superior  to  Denmark  in  refinement,  arts,  trade, 
and  agriculture,  long  exercised  a  beneficial  influence 
upon  the  Danish  kingdom.  To  Canute  the  Great  has 
Denmark  to  ascribe  the  complete  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity;  for  under  him  the  last  vestiges  of  the  pagan 
worship  were  destroyed,  its  idols,  overthrown,  its  altars 
demolished,  and  its  temples  closed ;  and  Christianity 
has  since  prevailed  in  Denmark,  and  formed  the  great 
bond  of  the  social  happiness,  and  the  great  source  of  the 
intellectual  eminence  which  this  remote  quarter  of  the 
globe  now  so  richly  enjoys.  Many  English  clergymen 
migrated  in  this  period  to  Denmark.  English  clergy- 
men were  mostly  invested  with  the  Danish  bishoprics ; 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  7  5 

and,  on  the  whole,  Canute  considered  England  the  mam 
realm,  and  resided  there.  But  he  deserved  well,  also, 
of  Denmark,  by  bringing  a  great  portion  of  Venden 
under  subjection,  and  subduing  the  formidable  Yendish 
pirates.  About  the  same  time  Christianity  was  intro- 
duced into  Sweden,  under  Olaf  Skotkonung-,  who  was 
baptized  by  an  English  clergyman,  Sigfrid  ;  and  into 
Norway,  under  Olaf  the  Pious,  who,  with  three  hun- 
dred brave  men,  traveled  round  and  destroyed  the  hea- 
then idols. 

Before  relating  Canute's  last  expedition  to  Norway, 
his  exploits  there,  and  his  end,  it  may  be  noticed  that 
he,  like  most  royal  persons  in  the  period  under  consider- 
A.  d.,  ation,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  to  pay,  in 
1026-  that  sacred  city,  his  devotion  to  the  relics  of 
some  deceased  saint,  and  obtain  from  the  Pope  remis- 
sion of  his  sins.  While  in  Rome  he  established,  by 
assent  of  the  Pope,  a  caravansary  for  Scandinavian  pil- 
grims ;  procuring  his  subjects,  also,  on  the  same  occa- 
sion, several  commercial  privileges.  Upon  his  journey 
to  Rome  he  chanced  to  meet  with  the  G-erman  Emperor, 
Conrad  II.,  whom  he  induced  to  renounce  his  claims  to 
the  Margraviate  of  Schleswig,  founded  by  Henry  the 
Fowler,  and  a  marriage  was  stipulated  between  Can- 
ute's daughter,  Gunhilda,  and  Conrad's  son,  Henry. 

About  this  time,  or  a  little  before,  the  Scandinavians 
began  to  make  discoveries  in  the  North  and  West.  The 
Faroe  islands  had  been  discovered  a+  the  latter  end  of 


76  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

*.he  ninth  century,  by  some  Scandinavian  pirates,  and 
soon  after  this,  Iceland  was  colonized  by  the  Norwegians. 
The  Icelandic  chronicles  also  relate,  that  the  Norsemen 
discovered  a  great  country  to  the  "West  of  Ireland  ;  and 
it  seems,  indeed,  very  clear  that  they  made  their  way  to 
Greenland,  in  the  end  of  the  tenth  century — and  they 
are  thus  the  very  first  discoverers  of  America.  The 
settlement  made  in  Greenland,  though  comprising  only 
a  small  population,  seems  to  have  been  very  prosperous 
in  mercantile  affairs.  They  had  bishops  and  priests 
from  Europe,  and  paid  the  Pope,  as  an  annual  tribute, 
2,600  pounds  of  walrus  teeth  as  tithe  and  Peter's  pence. 
But  the  art  of  navigation  must  have  been  at  a  very  low 
pitch,  for  the  voyage  from  Greenland  to  Iceland  and 
Norway,  and  back  again,  consumed  five  years  ;  and 
upon  one  occasion,  the  Government  of  Norway  did  not 
hear  of  the  death  of  the  Bishop  of  Greenland  until  six 
years  after  it  had  occurred.  Unfortunately,  the  Norse- 
men forgot  too  soon  the  navigation  thither ;  and  their 
discoveries  have,  therefore,  not  derogated  from  that 
immortal  renown,  which  Columbus,  five  centuries  later, 
acquired. 

But  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Northmen,  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  is  of  so  great  interest 
and  importance  to  American  antiquity,  that  I  must 
dwell  a  little  upon  this  subject.  The  great  antiquarian 
of  Copenhagen,  Prof.  C.  Ram,  has  investigated  deeply 
upon  the  subject,   and  his  tacts  and  assumptions  res! 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  77 

mainly  on  the  authority  of  ancient  Icelandic  manu- 
scripts, which  doubtless  are  authentic.  Iceland  was 
discovered  in  863,  by  the  Dane  Garder,  who  was  of 
Swedish  extraction.  Only  a  few  out  places  of  this 
distant  island  had  been  visited  previously  by  Irish 
hermits.  Eleven  years  subsequently,  thus  relates  Rafn, 
a  Norwegian,  Ingolf,  began  the  colonization  of  the  island  j 
the  colonists  established  in  Iceland  a  flourishing  re- 
public, where  the  Old-Danish,  or  Old-Northern  language 
was  preserved  unchanged  for  centuries,  and  Iceland 
became  the  cradle  of  a  Northern  historical  literature,  of 
immense  value.  The  location  of  tins  remarkable  island 
compelled  its  inhabitants  to  exercise  and  develop  their 
hereditary  maritime  skill,  and  thirst  for  new  discoveries 
across  the  vast  ocean.  The  talented  American,  "VV 
Grilmore  Simms,  of  South  Carolina,  rightfully  remarks, 
that  it  is  in  favor  of  the  Icelandic  Sagas,  that  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  written  to  assert  any  claim  of 
discovery.  The  very  first  of  these  old  documents,  to 
which  I  will  request  the  reader's  attention,  is  the  Saga 
of  Bjarne  Herjulfson.  This  bold  navigator  was  preceded 
by  Erik  the  Red,  by  whom  Greenland  was  discovered 
in  983,  and  who,  three  years  afterwards,  by  means  of 
Icelandic  emigrants,  established  the  first  colony  on  its 
southwestern  shore,  where,  in  1124,  the  Bishop's  see  of 
Gardar  was  founded,  which  subsisted  for  more  than 
300  years.  The  head  firths  or  bays  were  named  after 
the  chiefs  of  the  expedition.     Erik  the  Red  settled  in 


78 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 


Ericksfirth,  Einar,  Rafn,  and  Ketil  in  the  firths  called 
after  them,  and  Herjulf  on  Herjulfness.  On  a  voyage 
from  Iceland  to  Greenland,  this  same  year  (986),  Bjarnc 
Herjulfton,  a  son  of  Herjulf,  was  driven  far  out  to  sea, 
towards  the  southwest,  and  for  the  first  time  beheld 
the  coasts  of  the  American  lands,  afterwards  visited 
and  named  by  his  countrymen.  In  order  to  examine 
these  countries  more  narrowly,  Leif  the  Fortunate,  son 
of  Erik  the  Red,  undertook  a  voyage  thither  in  the  year 
1000,  from  which  his  father  was  discouraged  by  an  omen. 
His.  son,  Leif,  however,  was  not  discouraged.  With 
thirty-five  hardy  men,  he  landed  on  the  shores  described 
by  Bjarne,  detailed  the  character  of  these  lands  more 
exactly,  and  named  them  according  to  their  appearance 
Ilelluland  (Newfoundland)  was  so  called  from  its  flat 
stones,  Hella  signifying  a  flat  stone ;  Mar kl and  (Nova 
Scotia),  from  its  woods ;  Markland,  that  is  woodland, 
and  Vineland  (New  England)  from  its  vines.  It  is 
therefore  wrong,  when  some  historians  tell,  that  Green- 
land was  called  Vineland  by  the  Northmen,  hardly  any 
vines  being  found  there.  Here  in  Vineland  (New  Eng- 
land), Leif  the  Fortunate  remained  for  some  time,  and 
constructed  large  houses,  called  after  him  Leifbudis 
(LeiPs  booths).  A  German,  named  Tyrker,  who  accom- 
panied Leif  on  this  voyage  was  the  man  who  found 
the  wild  vines,  which  he  recognized  from  having  seen 
them  in  his  own  land,  and  he  gave  the  country  its  name 
from  this  circumstance.    He  departed  then  in  the  spring 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 


79 


for  his  native  country,  where  the  intelligence  of  his 
discovery  created  great  sensation.  Two  years  after- 
wards, Leif's  brother,  Thorwald,  pursued  the  adventure 
thither,  and  in  1003,  caused  an  expedition  to  be  under- 
taken to  the  South,  along  the  shore,  but  was  killed, 
in  the  summer  of  1004,  on  a  voyage  northwards,  in  an 
encounter  with  the  natives.  "I  have  gotten  a  wound 
under  the  arm,"  says  the  brave  fellow  to  his  comrades, 
"and  it  will  prove  a  mortal  wound  to  me.  Now  get  ye 
ready  to  depart  instantly,  and  bear  me  to  that  cape  where 
I  thought  it  pleasant  to  dwell.  There  shall  ye  bury  me, 
and  set  up  crosses  at  my  head  and  feet,  and  call  the 
place  Krossaness  for  all  time  to  come."  The  cape  where 
he  was  buried  is  supposed  to  be  Cape  or  Point  Aldeston, 
not  far  from  the  Pilgrim  city,  Plymouth,  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, where  the  fearless  Thorwald,  shortly  before  his 
sad  termination  of  life,  chiseled  in  Runes  the  exploits  of 
his  gallant  crew. 

But  among  the  most  interesting  of  the  Sagas  at  this 
period,  is  that  of  Thorfinn  Karlsefne.  The  word  Karl- 
sefne  signifies  "  a  man  destined  to  become  great."  He 
is  the  most  distinguished  of  all  the  first  American 
discoverers.  He  was  an  Icelandic  merchant,  whose 
genealogy  is  carried  back  in  the  Old-Northern  annals  to 
Danish,  Norwegian,  Scottish,  and  Irish  ancestors,  some 
of  them  even  of  royal  blood.  In  1006,  this  chief,  on  a 
merchant  voyage,  visited  Greenland,  and  married  there 
Gudrid,  the  widow  of  Thorstein  (a  third  son  of  Erik  the 


SO  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA, 

Red),  who  had  died  the  year  before,  in  an  unsuccessful 
expedition  thither.  Accompanied  by  his  wife,  and  by  a 
crew  of  160  men,  on  board  three  vessels,  he  repaired  in 
the  spring  of  1007  to  Yineland,  where  he  remained  for 
three  years,  and  had  many  communications  with  the 
aborigines.  Here  his  wife  Gudrid  bore  him  a  son,  called 
Snorre,  who  was  the  very  first  child  of  European  parents 
born  in  America,  and  became  the  founder  of  an  illus- 
trious family  in  Iceland,  which  gave  that  island  several 
of  its  first  Bishops.  But  the  birth  of  this  child  is 
remarkable  for  another  reason,  for  up  to  this  child  the 
great  Danish  sculptor,  Albert  Thorwaldsen,  traces  his 
lineage,  along  with  that  of  many  other  eminent  Scan- 
dinavians. 

The  notices  given  by  this  illustrious  navigator,  Thor- 
flnn  Karlsefne,  and,  on  the  whole,  by  the  old  Icelandio 
voyager  chroniclers  respecting  the  climate,  the  soil,  and 
the  productions  of  this  new  country,  are  very  character- 
istic, and  correspond  with  the  language  of  less  question- 
able narrators,  five  hundred  years  later.  Nay,  we  have 
even  a  statement  of  this  kind  as  old  as  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury from  a  writer,  not  a  Northman,  Adam  of  Bremen, 
who  states,  on  the  authority  of  the  learned  king  of  Den- 
mark, Sven  Estridson,  a  nephew  of  Canute  the  Great, 
that  the  country  got  its  name  from  the  vine  growing  wild 
there  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  in  this  respect, 
that  its  English  re-discoverers,  from  the  same  reason, 
name  the  large  island,  which  is  close  off  the  coast,  Mar- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  81 

Old's   Vineyard.      Spontaneously  growing  wheat  (maize 
or  Indian  corn)  was  also  found  there. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is  the  total  result  of  the  nautical, 
geographical,  and  astronomical  evidences,  in  the  origi- 
nal documents,  which  places  the  location  of  the  countries 
discovered,  beyond  all  doubt.  The  number  of  days'  sail 
between  the  several  newly-found  lands,  the  striking 
description  of  the  coasts,  especially  the  white  sand-banks 
of  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  long  beaches  and  downs  of  a 
peculiar  appearance  on  Cape  Cod,  are  not  to  be  mistaken, 
and  cannot  but  open  our  eyes  with  interest.  In  addi- 
tion hereto  we  have  the  astronomical  remark  that  tha 
shortest  day  in  Vineland  (New  England)  was  nine  hours 
long,  which  fixes  the  latitude  of  41°  24'  10",  or  just 
that  of  the  promontories,  which  limit  the  entrances  to 
Mount  Hope  Bay,  where  Leifs  booths,  above  mentioned, 
were  built,  and  in  the  district  around  where  the  old  North- 
men had  their  head  establishment,  which  was  named  by 
them  Hop. 

The  Northmen  were,  also,  according  to  Prof.  Rafn, 
acquainted  with  American  land  still  farther  to  the  South, 
called  by  them  Hvitramannaiand  (the  land  of  the  White 
Men)  or  Irland  it  Mikla  (Great  Ireland).  The  exact 
location  of  this  country  has  not  been  stated  ;  it  was  prob- 
ably, says  Rafn,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and 
Florida.  In  1266,  some  priests  at  Gardar,  in  Greenland, 
did  also  set  on  foot  a  voyage  of  discovery  to  the  arctic 
regions  of   America,  and  an  astronomical    observation 


82  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

proves,  that  this  took  place  through  Lancaster  Sound  and 
Barrow's  Strait,  to  the  latitude  of  Wellington's  channel. 
The  last  memorandum  supplied  by  the  old  Icelandic 
records,  is  a  voyage  from  Greenland  to  Markland  (Nova 
Scotia)  in  1347. 

Thus  the  claim  that  the  Northmen  were  the  very  first 
discoverers  of  America,  seems  to  be  placed  on  good 
foundation,  and  it  is  embodied  in  the  able  and  elaborate 
work  of  Professor  C.  Ram,  of  the  Royal  Danish  Society 
of  Northern  Antiquities.  However,  this  does  not,  I  may 
be  allowed  to  repeat  it,  lessen  the  great  merits  of  Co- 
lumbus, nor  have  I  referred  to  it  for  this  purpose ;  but 
we  ought,  nevertheless,  not  to  forget,  that  Columbus 
visited  the  Danish  island,  Iceland,  in  1477,  had  access  to 
the  archives  there,  and  must,  doubtless,  have  heard  of 
the  former  discoveries  of  its  roving  sea-chiefs.  Be,  there- 
fore, not  ashamed,  Americans,  of  claiming  the  old  North- 
men, who  sailed  forth  in  swarms  from  their  northern 
hives,  as  your  earliest  ancestors.  Your  lineage  is,  in  the 
main,  Anglo-Saxon,  with  a  large  infusion  of  Scandina- 
vian blood.  And  permit  me  to  say,  that  when  you  trace 
your  parent  stock,  through  the  kindred  tribes  of  Angles, 
Saxons,  Normans,  and  Danes,  up  to  those  hardy  mari- 
ners, whose  prows  first  saluted  the  American  shores,  you 
may  boast  of  an  exalted  and  heroic  lineage.  And  I  still 
dare  to  pit  that  race,  both  here  and  in  England,  for  all 
that  constitutes  individual  and  national  prowess,  against 
any  other  on  Grod  s  green  earth.     Try  them  yet,  man  to 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  83 

man,  on  sea  or  shore,  in  peace  or  war,  and  they  will  work 
out  an  ultimate  and  lasting  triumph.  They  are  not  lag- 
gards in  peace,  not  dastards  in  war. 

On  a  visit  to  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  while  the 
seventh  edition  of  this  work  was  in  process  of  being 
printed,  all  the  exploits  of  the  bold  Northmen  crowded 
upon  my  memory,  Calliope  me  inspiravit,  and  I  penciled 
down  the  following  humble  and  unpretending  lines,  which 
I  may  be  allowed  to  cite  : — 

Each  circling  year  its  darkness  casts 
Over  the  dim  and  shadowy  past : 
Those  kings  who  ruled  with  iron  hand 
O'er  many  a  broad  and  fertile  land, 
Those  crested  chiefs,  whose  dauntless  might 
Turned  the  fierce  tide  of  many  a  fight, 
Those  poets,  who,  untaught  by  art, 
Could  rouse,  or  soothe,  or  melt  the  heart, 
Sleep  half  remembered  and  alone — 
Their  deeds,  their  names,  are  almost  gone; 
And  o'er  their  fame  gray  Time  has  flung 
His  mantle,  as  he  passed  along. 
Yet  still  some  glorious  deeds  remain 
Of  Norseman  bold  and  fiery  Dane  ; 
Those  wild,  fierce  rovers,  proud  and  free, 
Those  daring  wanderers  of  the  sea, 
Well  earned  the  name  their  Sagas  gave 
Of  Vikings,  monarchs  of  the  wave. 
Long  ere  Columbus  dared  to  brave 
The  dangers  of  the  Western  wave, 
Their  keels  had  grated  on  the  strand 
That  binds  New  England's  rocky  land ; 
Red  Erik's  hardy  sons  had  seen 
Her  broad  blue  streams  and  forests  green  % 
And  where  the  Pilgrim  city  stands, 
Bold  Thorwald  and  his  fearless  band 
Shook  with  their  rugged  oars  the  brine, 
Plucked  the  thick  clusters  of  the  vine, 


84  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

And  laid  their  huge,  strong  limbs  to  rest 
Beneath  the  wild  woods  of  the  West. 
No  shore  to  which  the  Northmen  came 
But  kept  some  token  of  their  fame  ; 
On  the  rough  surface  of  a  rock, 
Unmoved  by  time  or  tempest's  shock, 
In  Runic  letters,  Thorwald  drew 
A  record  of  his  gallant  crew; 
And  those  rude  letters  still  are  shown, 
Deep  chiseled  in  the  flinty  stone. 

But  also  with  the  east  had  the  Northmen  connection. 

The  same  age  which  saw  the  bearded  Vikings,  the 
G-rim-visaged  Sea-Kings  of  the  North  discovering  Iceland 
and  America  in  the  far  West,  beheld  them  also  in  the  East, 
and  with  extraordinary  energy.  Summoned  thither  from 
the  Scandinavian  North,  the  old  Russian  historian,  Nestor, 
assures  us,  that  under  the  name  of  Variago-Russians 
they  established  the  Russian  Empire  in  862,  and  for 
more  than  a  century  exercised  great  influence  on  its 
affairs,  both  internal  and  external.  The  correctness  of 
this  statement  by  Nestor,  and  the  important  part  played 
by  the  Scandinavian  Russians,  in  the  first  period  of  that 
power,  becomes  evident  at  once  from  the  names  borne  by 
the  historical  actors  themselves,  almost  all  of  which 
belong  to  the  Old-Danish  or  Old- Northern  language,  and 
are  recognized  in  the  Northern  Sagas  and  Runographic 
monuments.  The  men  "  of  the  Russian  nation"  sent  by 
Oleg  in  907  and  911,  as  embassadors  to  Constantinople, 
were  all  Northmen  ;  and  Liutprand,  Bishop  of  Cremona, 
tvho,  in  968,  visited  Constantinople,   expressly  asserts 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  85 

that  the  people  whom  the  Greeks  called  Russians,  were 
the  same  nation  as  those  named  Northmen.  These 
Northmen,  Danes,  Swedes,  Norwegians,  and  some  Eng- 
lish, flocked,  usually,  there  by  land,  through  the  Rus- 
sian territory,  and  took  service  in  Constantinople  in  the 
Imperial  life-guard,. under  the  name  of  Varangers. 

A  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  statement  made  by 
Nestor,  would  be  afforded,  if  we  could,  says  Prof.  Rafn, 
venture  to  assume  that  the  name  Igvar,  occurring  on 
several  Swedish  Runic  stones,  is  the  Russian  crown- 
prince  Igor.  Sixty  Runic  monuments  have  been  care- 
fully examined ;  twelve  of  these  inscriptions  speak  of 
an  Igvar,  and  are  carved  in  memory  of  men  who  had 
taken  part  in  his  expedition  (i  faru  med  Igvari),  some 
of  them  even  as  ship-commanders. 

To  return  to  Canute  the  Great.  "While  he  tarried  in 
Rome,  Olaf  the  Pious,  of  Norway,  and  Anund  Jacob,  ol 
Sweden,  availed  themselves  of  Canute's  absence  to  fall 
upon  Denmark,  both  of  them  fearing  his  increasing 
power,  and  being  angry  because  Norwegian  mutineers 
had  found  an  asylum  at  the  Danish  Court.  The  united 
kings  making  great  progress,  TJlf  Jarl,  who  was  mar- 
ried to  Estrith,  a  sister  to  Canute,  and  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-governor under  the  king's  absence,  deemed  it 
necessary  for  the  country  to  have  a  head,  and  prevailed 
upon  the  people  to  elect  the  crown  prince,  Hardi 
Canute,  king.  Canute  informed  of  this,  in  his  opinion, 
arbitrary  conduct,  hastened  home,  but  though  highly 


86  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

angered  with  Ulf,  he  delayed  his  vengeance  till  the 
A.  d.,  enemies  were  driven  away.  A  battle  was  fought 
1027.  by  Helgcbrook  in  Skane,  where  Canute  himself 
would  have  perished,  had  it  not  been  for  Ulf 's  aid.  But 
even  this  could  not  appease  the  exasperated  king,  who, 
under  pretence  of  friendship,  invited  him  to  a  drinking- 
bout  in  Roeskilde.  They  played  at  chess  together. 
The  king  making  a  wrong  move,  would  undo  it,  but 
Ulf  Jarl  being  angry,  upset  the  chess-board,  and  left. 
"Dost  thou  now  fly,  thou  cowardly  Ulf?"  cried  the 
king.  "  Thou  didst  not  call  me  cowardly,"  answered 
Ulf,  "  when  the  Danes,  by  Helgebrook,  like  dogs,  betook 
to  their  heels,  and  I  saved  thy  life."  The  king,  yet 
more  irritated  at  this  answer,  caused  Ulf  to  be  killed  in 
the  cathedral  of  Roeskilde,  to  which  he  thereafter  gave 
a  whole  county  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  his  crime. 
Canute  now  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  brave  body  of 
men,  sailed  with  a  mighty  fleet  to  Norway,  and  com- 
pelled Olaf  the  Pious  to  fly  to  Garderige  (Russia). 
Olaf,  however,  shortly  after  reappearing,  attempted  to 
regain  his  kingdom,  but  fell  in  the  battle  at  a.  d., 
Stiklestad,  close  by  Trondhjem.  Canute  the  103°- 
Great  was  now  the  most  formidable  potentate  perhaps 
in  Europe.  Denmark,  England,  Norway,  South  Scot- 
land, and  a  great  part  of  Venden  were  tributary  to  him, 
and  his  alliance  was  courted  by  the  greatest  monarchs. 
Canute,  who  had  three  sons,  now  appointed  his  son 
Swen   viceroy  of  Norway,  but  he   despised  the  Nor 


HISTORY  OP   SCANDINAVIA.  87 

wegians  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  dethroned  him,  and 
placed  Magnus  the  Good,  a  son  of  Olaf  the  Pious,  upon 
his  father's  throne.  Thus  Canute's  mighty  realm  a.  d., 
began  already  to  he  dissolved,  when  death  sud-  1035- 
denly  terminated  his,  in  many  respects,  so  glorious  life 
History  has  surnamed  him  the  Great.  He  was  success- 
ful in  his  wars,  and  bore  the  sceptre  with  prudence  and 
judiciousness,  hut  not  always  with  justice.  He  was 
very  much  dazzled  by  ambition,  vanity  being  his  be- 
setting sin,  so  that  he  even  threatened  a  Skald  with 
death  for  not  having  magnified  him  sufficiently  in  a 
poem.  The  poor  Skald  had  to  compose  another  one,  in 
which  he  then  told  that  Canute  ruled  the  world  with 
the  same  omnipotence  as  (rod  does  heaven,  and  with 
this  flattery  he  was  pleased.  Undeniably,  in  direct  op- 
position to  this  vain  glory,  is  the  well  known  tale  of  his 
rebuking  the  adulation  of  his  courtiers  by  ordering  his 
chair  of  state  to  be  carried  below  high-water  mark,  on 
the  English  coast,  and  showing  them  that  the  flowing 
tide  would  not  recede  at  his  royal  behest. 

Canute  the  Great  died,  only  forty  years  old,  in 
Shaftesbury,  England,  November  11th,  1035,  after 
having  for  some  time  suffered  from  an  incurable  dis- 
ease. Though  a  Dane,  both  by  birth  and  education, 
and  a  son  of  Swen,  whom  the  tutelar  saint  of  England, 
according  to  the  legends,  had  killed,  the  English 
people  would  by  no  means  consent  to  his  corpse  being 
6ent  to  Denmark  for  interment ;  but,  from  a  feeling 


88  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

of  esteem  for  his  greatness,  and  of  gratitude  for  his 
many  beneficent  acts,  they  wished  to  give  his  earthly 
remains  a  resting-place  in  England.  Accordingly,  the 
corpse  was,  with  great  solemnity,  interred  in  the  very 
heart  of  Wessex,  a  province  formerly  so  hostile  to  the 
Danes,  in  the'  city  of  Winchester,  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Peter.  Hence  it  was  afterwards  brought  to  the 
Cathedral,  where  the  old  Saxon  kings  had  their 
mausoleum.  The  lid  of  the  coffin  is  adorned  by  a 
gilded  crown  and  a  brief  Latin  inscription,  still  to  be 
seen. 

All  eyes  of  the  Danish  people  were  now  bent  upon 
Hardi- Canute ,  the  eldest  son  of  Canute  the  Great,  and 
the  crown  was  placed  on  his  head,  while  Harold  Hare- 
foot  (nimble-footed  as  a  hare)  ascended  the  throne  of 
England.  Hardi-Canute  has  obtained  the  appellation 
Hardy,  from  the  valorous  actions  he  performed  in 
Russia,  when  his  father  sent  him  thither  in  pursuit  of 
Olaf,  king  of  ^Norway.  After  his  accession  to  the 
Danish  throne,  he  immediately  prepared  to  regain 
Norway,  and  met  Magnus  the  Good  by  Gota-Elf,  where 
a.  d.,  both  armies  were  ready  for  battle,  when  the 

io38.  difference  unexpectedly  was  composed  by  a  com- 
pact, that  each  should  keep  his  kingdom  until  his  death, 
but  the  survivor  inherit  both  kingdoms.  After  a  short 
reign,  died  Harold  Harefoot,  in  Oxford,  March  27th, 
1039,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster,  London,  and 
Hardi-Canute,  by  his  mother  Emma  acquainted  with 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  89 

his  brother's  death,  now  united  England  with  Den- 
A.  Dm  mark  without  any  opposition.  Exasperated 
1042.  upon  his  defunct  brother,  because  he  had  so 
long  prevented  him  from  ascending  the  throne,  he 
began  his  reign  with  taking  vengeance  upon  his 
corpse,  which  he  caused  to  be  dug  up  of  the  sepulchre, 
in  "Westminster,  and  to  be  cast  into  the  river  Thames. 
However,  it  was  again  found,  recognized  by  some 
fishermen,  and  solemnly  brought  to  the  church  in 
London,  called  St.  Clemens  Danes  [Ecclesia  sancti 
dementis  Danorum.]  After  a  violent  administration 
of  three  years  he  died,  to  the  great  comfort  of  his  Eng- 
lish subjects,  who  now  seized  the  opportunity  of  shak- 
ing off  the  Danish  yoke.  Hardi-Canute  was  greatly 
addicted  to  sensual  enjoyments,  and  partook  too  freely 
of  intoxicating  liquors,  which  was  the  cause  of  his 
early  death.  At  a  wedding  between  Gyda,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  renowned  Danish  chieftain,  Osgod  Clapa, 
and  the  mighty  Dane,' To vi  Pruda,  he  emptied  so 
many  horns  in  honor  of  the  bride,  that  he  suddenly 
fell  on  the  floor,  and  breathed  out  his  last  gasp.  He 
was  buried  in  Winchester,  in  the  same  cathedral 
where  Canute  the  Great,  his  illustrious  father,  rests. 
The  union  of  Denmark  and  England  was  broken, 
England  electing  Edward  Confessor,  son  of  Ethelred, 
as  king,  and  the  Danes  making  no  attempt  to  resist 
the  voice  of  the  nation.  Since  that  time  the  kings  of 
"Denmark  have  never  ruled  England,  although  several 
attempts  were  afterwards  made. 


90  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

II. 

1042—1157. 

Magnus  the  Good — Swen  Estrithson — Expedition  to  England — Ecclesiastical 
Affairs—  Canute  the  Pious — Expedition  again  against  England — Eric  the 
Good — Expedition  to  Venden — Canonization  of  Canute  the  Pious — Canute 
Lavard — Nicholas — Civil  war  between  Swen  Qiathe,  Canute  Magnusson 
and  Waldemar — Frederick  Barbarossa— Battle  on  Grathe-heath,  in  Jut- 
land. 

On  the  death  of  Hardi-Canute,  Denmark  and  Norway 
were,  according  to  the  agreement  of  Grota-Elf,  united 
under  Magnus  the  Good.  The  male  lineage  of  the  royal 
family  of  Denmark  was  extinct,  hut  a  descendant  in  the 
female  line,  Swen  Estrithson,  a  son  of  Ulf  Jarl  and 
Estrith,  sister  to  Canute  the  Great,  was  yet  alive.  He 
put  in  his  claim  to  the  throne,  and  had  the  address  to 
gain  over  a  great  number  of  the  Danish  nobility  to  his 
interest.  The  Danes,  who  lately  had  ruled  so  many 
people,  would  reluctantly  he  subject  to  Norway,  and 
Swen  Estrithson,  therefore,  found  no  difficulty  in  being 
elected  king  of  Denmark,  and  consequently  a  war 
broke  out  between  him  and  Magnus  the  Grood.  Swen 
equipped  a  fleet  in  Jutland,  gave  battle  to  Magnus,  but 
was  routed,  being  forced  to  take  shelter  in  the  island  of 
Fjunen.  Here  he  refitted,  and  ventured  upon  another 
engagement,  which  terminated  as  unsuccessfully  as  the 
former.  His  whole  fleet  was  dispersed,  and  he  himself 
obliged  to  flee  to  Anund  Jacob,  of  Sweden,  for  refuge. 
Of    these  disburbances  the   Venders   took   advantage, 


HISTORY     OP     SCANDINAVIA.  91 


making  desolating  invasions,  overrunning  the  coasts  of 
Jutland,  and  laying  waste  all  the  country  through  which 
they  passed.  But  Magnus,  neither  wearied  nor  daunted, 
raised  an  army,  gave  them  battle  by  Lyrskoiv,  in 
Schleswig,  and  conquered  these  barbarians,  though  su- 
perior in  numbers.  After  this  memorable  combat,  the 
war  between  Magnus  and  Swen  was  renewed,  and  the 
latter  was  about  to  give  up  all  hope  of  the  crown  of 
A.  d.,  Denmark,  just  as  Magnus  the  Good  died.  The 
1047.  Norwegians  separated  now  from  Denmark,  elect- 
ing Harald  the  Hardy,  a  half-brother  of  Olaf  the  Pious, 
their  king ;  and  the  Danes  called  Swen  Estrithson  to  the 
Danish  throne,  to  which  he  by  blood  was  the  nearest 
heir.  Upon  the  whole,  highly  beloved  for  his  pleasing 
address,  and  captivating  manners,  and  very  much  es- 
teemed for  his  learning,  his  re-appearance  in  Denmark 
was  hailed  with  general  joy.  But,  far  from  finding 
the  throne  a  bed  of  roses,  he  had  for  seventeen  years 
to  stand  up  for  his  kingdom  against  the  warlike  Nor- 
wegian king,  Harald  the  Hardy,  who  had  lived  a  great 
number  of  years  in  exile,  been  hardened  by  military 
service  in  Constantinople,  and  was  of  a  most  invincible 
courage.  He  now  laid  claim  to  Denmark.  Siven 
a.d.,  Estrithson,  though  often  totally  defeated,  and 
1062.  even,  in  the  bloody  battle  at  Nisaa,  in  Halland,  in 
danger  of  life,  kept  up  an  unshaken  spirit,  and  when  he 
had  no  reason  to  expect  it,  Providence  wrought  a 
happy  change  in  his  situation.     The  civil  divisions  in 


92  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA, 


England  had  roused  Harald  the  Hardy's  ambition  to 
extend  his  conquests  and  influence,  and  he  resolved 
upon  an  expedition  to  England  in  order  to  assist  Toste 
against  his  brother  Harald  Godvinson,  who  had  ascended 
the  throne  of  England,  by  the  title  of  Harold  II.  A 
battle  was  fought  at  Standford-bridge,  where  both  Toste 
and  the  Norwegian  king,  Harald  the  Hardy,  were 
killed,  by  which  means  Swen  Estrithson  recovered  the 
peaceable  possession  of  all  his  Danish  dominions.  But 
the  death  of  Harold  II.,  of  England,  who  was  a.  d., 
slain  in  the  memorable  battle  at  Hastings,  fought  1066- 
with  William  of  Normandy,  called  the  Conqueror, 
furnished  Swen  Estrithson  with  an  opportunity  of  put- 
ting in  his  claim  to  the  crown  of  England,  as  the  only 
remaining  descendant  of  Canute  the  Great.  He  made 
two  expeditions  to  England,  but  both  of  them  fell  short 
of  success,  and  "William  the  Conqueror  brought  all 
England  under  his  control. 

Besides  his  many  excellent  qualities,  which  entitled 
him  to  honor,  Swen  Estrithson  merits,  particularly  by 
his  care  for  ecclesiastical  affairs,  the  greatest  gratitude 
of  the  whole  Danish  nation.  To  the  five  bishoprics 
already  established,  he  added  four :  Wiborg  and  Borg- 
lum  in  Jutland,  and  Lund  and  Dalby  in  Skane,  in 
order  the  more  easily  to  prevail  upon  the  Pope  to  erect 
an  archbishopric  in  Denmark,  and  thus  make  the  north- 
ern church  free  from  any  dependence  on  the  foreign 
archbishopric  of  Hamburg,  the  pressure  of  which  Swen 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  93 

himself  had  felt  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  Hamburgish 
archbishop,  Adelbert,  under  the  menace  of  excommu- 
nication, constrained  him  to  part  with  his  queen, 
Jutta,  because  she  was  a  step-daughter  to  his  first 
wife.  Negotiating  with  several  Popes  concerning  this 
important  matter,  he  died  before  it  was  settled.  The 
number  of  churches  was,  under  his  reign,  considerably- 
increased.  There  were  three  hundred  in  Skane,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  in  Sjelland,  and  one  hundred  in 
Fjunen.  The  authority  of  the  Church,  to  which  the 
king  in  the  case  above  mentioned  had  to  submit,  was, 
however,  often  of  great  weight  in  restraining  rudeness, 
cruelty  and  transgression  of  law.  Thus,  for  instance, 
when  the  king  had  ordered  some  of  his  guests,  who  at 
a  merry  compotation  had  used  abusive  language  about 
him,  to  be  killed  the  next  morning  in  the  cathedral  of 
Roeskilde,  and  he  thereafter  would  enter  the  church  to 
attend  his  devotion,  the  entrance  was  forbidden  him  by- 
Bishop  William,  who  excommunicated  him,  (the  very- 
first  case  of  "ban  in  the  North) ;  and  after  he  had  first, 
as  a  contrite  sinner,  put  on  sack-cloth  and  asked  remis- 
sion of  his  crime,  the  absolution  was  pronounced  by  the 
bishop.  A  few  years  before  Swen  Estrithson's  death, 
the  Venders  occupying  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  right  from 
Denmark  up  to  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  called  Vagrers 
in  Holstein,  Obotriters  in  Mecklenburg,  Wilzers  as  far 
as  Oder  River,  Curlanders,  Liflanders  and  Esthonians, 
had  again  revolted,  leveled  all  the  churches  with  the 


94  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

ground,  pillaged  the  City  of  Schleswig,  and,  in  derision, 
broken  the  crucifixes  which  mistaken  piety  had  erected. 
But  the  greatest  insult  to  the  king  was  the  manner 
in  which  they  treated  his  sister,  Syrith,  whom  they 
stripped  naked,  and  in  that  condition  sent  to  Denmark. 
He  immediately  raised  an  army  to  revenge  these  in- 
juries, but  had  to  drop  his  resolution,  the  Venders  being 
too  superior  in  numbers ;  and  for  upwards  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  the  desolating  piracies  of  these 
barbarians  continued,  till  at  length  the  great  Waldemar 
learned  how  to  bring  them  under  due  subjection. 

Swen  Estrithson  was  a  man  of  letters ;  he  loved  the 
cultivation  of  the  mind  and  the  conversation  of  the  wise, 
and  corresponded  in  Latin  with  the  enlightened  Pope 
Gregorius  VII.  (Hildebrand) ;  and  he  was  so  well  versed 
in  the  history  of  the  North,  as  to  be  able  to  communi- 
cate to  the  learned  Adam  of  Bremen  important  informa- 
tion, which  he  used  in  his  description  of  Denmark. 
(Descriptio  Adami  Bremensis.)  The  clergy,  in  whom 
Swen  Estrithson  had  taken  so  great  interest,  have  ex- 
tolled the  character  of  the  king  as  the  most  pious  and 
merciful  monarch  that  ever  filled  the  throne  of  Den- 
mark, although  his  incontinence  was  so  great,  that  of 
thirteen  sons  he  left  behind  him  not  one  was  legitimate, 
and,  what  is  more,  he  had  polluted  the  house  of  Grod  by 
the  cruel  murder  of  several  of  his  nobility.  On  his 
death,  in  Jutland,  his  son,  Canute,  was  employed  a.,  d., 
in  quelling  a  rebellion,  which  appeared  in  Es-    1076- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  95 

thonia,  while  Harald  Hein,  his  eldest  son,  was  elected 
king,  after  warm  disputes  about  the  succession.  The 
election  of  the  king  always  took  place,  at  that  time,  at 
a  general  diet  (Danehof),  usually  held  in  Sjelland  by 
Iise  Fjord,  or  in  Wiborg  in  Jutland.  The  king  elected 
here  traveled  thereafter  round  to  receive  a  special 
homage  in  the  provincial  courts,  in  Skane  on  Sliparehog 
near  Lund,  in  Jutland  close  by  Wiborg,  in  Sjelland  by 
Ringsted,  and  in  South  Jutland  (Schleswig)  on  TJrne- 
head.  Five  of  Swen  Estrithson's  children  successively 
arrived  at  the  dignity  of  the  crown :  an  instance,  per- 
haps, not  to  be  equaled  in  history.  Harald  Hein,  the 
eldest  one,  reigned  with  clemency,  unengaged  in  any 
hostilities  ;  but  being  somewhat  unprincipled  and  weak, 
he  was  surnamed  Hein  (i.  e.,  a  soft  stone).  His  short 
reign,  however,  is  remarKaDie  m  reference  to  an  im- 
portant alteration  in  the  legal  procedure.  Formerly, 
persons  who  were  accused  of  crime  had  to  prove  their 
innocence  either  by  duel  or  fire  ordeal,  the  latter  of 
which  being  considered  an  immediate  judgment  from 
God,  and  consisting  in  that  he  who  was  charged  with 
a  crime  had  to  take  in  his  hand  a  piece  of  red-hot  iron, 
or  to  walk  barefoot  and  blindfold  over  nine  red-hot  plow- 
shares. If  the  person  escaped  unhurt,  he  was  declared 
innocent,  otherwise  he  was  condemned  as  guilty.  But 
Harald  Hein  passed  a  law,  by  which  criminals,  where 
positive  evidence  was  wanting,  should  be  allowed  to 
o.l ear  themselves  by  an  oath,  when  certain  impartial 
persons,  called  arbitrators*  swore  that  they  felt  convinced 

*  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  jury  system,  for  it  is  from  Scandinavia  that 
trial  by  jury  entirely  unknown  to  the  Saxons,  was  introduced  iato  England. 


96  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

that  the   accused  had  told  the  truth      This  law  was 
received  with  universal  approbation. 

But,  before  proceeding  farther,  I  must  give  a  brief 
explanation  of  trial  by  ordeal,  which  so  long  prevailed 
among  the  Scandinavians  and  Saxons.  The  word 
ordeal  is  from  the  Anglo-Saxon :  Ordeal,  signifying 
magnum  judicium,  i.  e.,  great  judgment.  The  Ger- 
man word  urtheil,  i.  e.,  judgment,  is  apparently  the 
same  word.  Purgation  by  ordeal,  of  some  one  kind  or 
other,  is  very  ancient,  and  that  it  was  very  universal 
in  the  times  of  superstitious  barbarity,  admits  not  of  a 
doubt.  It  was  known  to  the  ancient  Greeks ;  for  in 
the  tragedy  of  Sophodes,  entitled  Antigone,  verse  270, 
a  person  suspected  by  Oreon  of  a  misdemeanor  de- 
clares himself  ready  to  handle  hot  iron  and  to  walk 
over  fire,  in  order  to  manifest  his  innocence.  The 
ordeal,  or  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God,  was  a 
solemn  ceremony,  but  open  to  a  great  deal  of  trickery 
and  misuse,  and  to  a  great  deal  of  priestly  corruption. 
Although  adopted  by  Christians,  it  has  never  been 
proved  that  it  received  papal  authority.  The  only 
mention  of  any  approach  toward  ecclesiastical  sanc- 
tion of  this  superstitious  and  blasphemous  practice 
occurs  in  the  ninth  century,  when  the  Council  of 
Mentz  enjoined  the  ordeal  of  the  ploughshare  on  sus- 
pected slaves.  Stephen  F.,  the  Pope,  however,  wrote 
to  the  bishop  of  Mentz,  and  condemned  it ;  and  the 
Pope,  Alexander  II.,  absolutely  forbade  it,  quoting  the 
words  of  Christ:  " Non  tentabis  Dominum  fieum 
tuum"  i.  e.,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God. 


HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.'  ■  97 

A  criminal,  who  wished  to  avail  himself  of  this 
method  of  purgation,  had  to  give  three  days'  notice  to 
the  priest,  during  which  time  he  was  to  attend  Mass, 
and  to  live  only  on  bread,  water  and  herbs.  On 
the  day  of  trial  he  received  the  Eucharist,  and  swore 
upon  the  four  Gospels,  that  he  was  innocent.  In  the 
case  of  carrying  hot  iron,  a  space  was  measured  out 
nine  times  the  length  of  the  party's  foot ;  then,  when 
the  required  heat  had  been  reached,  two  outsiders 
were  admitted,  one  for  the  accuser,  and  one  for  the 
accused,  as  witnesses  to  the  fact ;  then  twelve  others, 
as  spectators  of  the  ceremony.  Holy  water  was 
sprinkled  upon  all  of  them,  and  a  short  service  read. 
The  iron  was  then  removed  from  the  fire,  and  placed 
upon  a  supporter  at  the  end  of  the  distance  measured 
out.  The  hand  of  the  accused  was  then  sprinkled 
with  holy  water,  when  he  walked  to  the  spot,  took  up 
the  hot  iron,  carried  it  one-third  of  the  distance,  threw 
it  down,  ran  up  to  the  altar,  where  the  priest  bound 
up  the  scorched  limb  and  sealed  it.  On  the  third  day 
after  this  ceremony  the  bandage  was  removed,  and  if 
the  hand  was  healed,  the  accused  was  acquitted  of  the 
charge;  if  not,  he  was  pronounced  guilty.  There 
were,  however,  many  forms  of  ordeal.  The  accused 
might  be  required  to  remove  a  heavy  substance,  with 
his  naked  arm,  from  boiling  water,  or  to  walk,  bare- 
footed, over  red-hot  ploughshares;  but,  in  all  cases, 
the  ceremony  was  conducted  with  the  same  solemnity. 
This  detestable  trial  by  ordeal  Harald  Hein  abolished 
in  Denmark.     In  England  it  lingered  long  after  it  had 


98  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

disappeared  from  the  judicial  systems  of  most  other 

European  nations. 

On  the  death  of  Harald  Hein,  Canute  the  Pious,  his 
brother,  was  recalled  from  Esthonia,  and  ap-  a.  d., 
pointed  his  successor.  He  was,  at  this  time  of  108°- 
ignorance  and  selfishness,  highly  eminent  for  the  honesty 
and  glory  of  his  actions  ;  pious  in  peace,  brave  in 
battle,  an  able  ruler,  and  above  the  usual  temptations 
of  lust,  luxury,  and  avarice,  except  the  thirst  of  sove- 
reign power  and  of  extending  his  territories  ;  which, 
after  he  had  quelled  the  rebellion  in  Esthonia,  led  him 
to  embark  once  more  in  war,  and  attempt  the  recovery 
of  England,  the  great  jewel  in  the  eyes  of  the  Danish 
kings.  Taking  measures  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his 
father-in-law,  Robert,  Earl  of  Flanders,  and  with  his 
brother-in-law,  Olaf  Kyrre?  King  of  Norway,  he 
equipped  by  their  aid  a  great  fleet  of  a  thousand  ships 
in  the  Lymfiord,  and  raised  an  army  with  all  possible 
expedition.  But  while  the  fleet  and  army  were  waiting 
at  the  appointed  rendezvous,  until  Canute  had  appointed 
regents  to  govern  the  kingdom  in  his  absence,  "William 
the  Conqueror,  anxious  to  turn  off  this  imminent 
danger,  had  bribed  the  commanders-in-chief,  and  Olaf, 
the  king's  own  brother,  joined  the  bribery.  The  fleet 
separated,  and  Canute  the  Pious  had  to  postpone  his 
expedition  to  England.  Olaf  was  brought,  bound  in 
chains,  to  the  king.     Canute,  not  wishing  to  pollute  his 

*  Kyrrc,  the  Peaceable,  because  he  loved  peace,  and  waged  no  war 
■during  the  twenty-one  years  of  his  reign. 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  99 

hand  with  his  "brother's  blood,  sent  him  to  his  father-in- 
law,  the  Earl  of  Flanders,  requesting  him  to  watch  Qlaf 
so  narrowly  as  to  prevent  his  return  to  Denmark.  On 
the  bribed  commanders-in-chief  heavy  penalties  were 
inflicted  ;  which,  however,  being  called  in  too  arbitrarily 
and  despotically,  occasioned  a  sedition  in  Vendsyssel  (a 
county  in  Northern  Jutland),  which  soon  spread  over  the 
whole  of  Jutland.  Canute  the  Pious,  who,  moreover, 
from  the  time  he  had  granted  the  tithe  to  the  clergy, 
had  wholly  alienated  the  minds  of  the  people  from  him, 
had  to  escape  to  the  Island  of  Fjunen,  whither  the  rebels 
a.  D.,  pursued  him,    and   killed    him    in   St.   Alban's 

1086.  church  of  Odensee,  while  kneeling  before  the 
altar.  His  queen,  Edela,  fled  with  her  little  son, 
Charles,  afterwards  called  Charles  the  Dane,  to  her 
father,  in  Flanders  (Belgium).  Both  he  and  his  grand- 
father were  concerned  in  the  great  Crusades. 

Canute  the  Pious  was  not  only  pious,  but  also  keen 
and  active,  and  a  grave  and  vigorous  king.  He  punished 
with  inflexible  severity,  and  without  respect  of  persons, 
every  transgression  of  law,  and  employed  all  his  efforts 
to  root  out  all  residue  of  rudeness  of  antiquity,  espe- 
cially the  horrible  piracy.  Egil  Ragnarson,  a  chief  on 
Bornholm,  an  island  in  the  Baltic,  who  was  found  guilty 
of  this  crime,  was  hung  without  mercy.  To  promote 
the  culture  of  the  country,  he  showed  foreigners  who 
settled  in  Denmark  all  possible  benevolence  and  protec- 
tion.    He  took  a  particular  care  to  diminish  the  vast 


100  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

gulf  that  hitherto  had  existed  between  freemen  and 
slaves,  and  aided  the  clergy  in  their  efforts  for  this 
important  matter.  Nevertheless,  it  took  a  long  time 
before  the  spirit  of  Christianity  could  master  this  evil, 
traces  of  it  being  found  even  up  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. The  wealth,  privileges,  and  possessions  of  the 
clergy,  had  so  efficient  a  promoter  in  Canute  the  Pious, 
that  the  clergymen  could  place  themselves  on  terms  of 
equality  with  the  freeholders  of  land.  He  made  the 
clergy  the  most  eminent  order  of  the  kingdom,  placed 
the  bishops  in  the  same  rank  with  princes  and  dukes, 
and  liberated  the  clergy  from  subjection  to  the  general 
tribunal,  establishing  a  special  court,  consisting  only 
of  clergymen.  He  also  granted,  as  above  mentioned, 
the  Danish  clergy  tithe,  which  Charlemagne  already,  in 
the  year  812,  had  introduced  into  Germany.  This 
tithe,  however,  was  not  paid  during  the  reign  of  Canute 
the  Pious,  the  people  regarding  it  as  the  very  worst 
kind  of  servitude. 

Canute's  death  .was  no  sooner  known  than  a  sum  of 
money  was  raised  by  the  friends  of  Olaf  for  his  ransom ; 
and  his  brother  Nicholas  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Flanders  to 
conduct  him  to  Denmark,  where  he  was  raised  to  the 
throne.  The  glory  that  Canute  the  Pious,  in  many 
respects,  had  shed  upon  the  country,  was  soon  obscured 
by  his  brother  and  successor,  Olaf  the  Hungry,  a  sur- 
name given  him  on  account  of  a  dreadful  famine  which, 
in  consequence  of  a  bad   harvest,   prevailed   so  much 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  101 

under  his  reign,  that  the  richest  people  in  Denmark 
were  forced  to  supply  the  want  of  bread  with  roots  and 
other  vegetables,  while  the  poor  perished  in  the  streets 
and  highways.  It  had  long  been  customary  with  the 
nobility  to  dine  with  the  king  on  Christmas  Day,  and 
they  were  accordingly  invited.  When  dinner  was  served 
up,  the  king  called  for  bread,  but  was  told  that  there 
was  not  a  morsel  in  the  whole  kingdom.  The  clergy 
declared  that  it  was  a  punishment  sent  by  heaven  for 
the  murder  committed  on  Canute  the  Pious,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Roeskilde  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy 
Land,  thereby  to  appease  the  Almighty,  and  atone  for 
the  crimes  of  the  people.  After  an  inglorious  reign  of 
A.  d.,  nine  years,  Olaf  the  Hungry  expired,  and  the 
1095.  crown  was  transferred  to  his  noble  brother,  Erik, 
who  deservedly  has  been  called  Erik  the  Good.  Under 
this  excellent  prince  Denmark  began  to  retrieve  her 
ancient  power.  He  was  brave,  humane,  and  kind, 
liberal  to  the  distressed  and  poor,  eloquent  and  public 
spirited ;  and  he  preferred  the  arts  of  peaceful  industry 
to  destructive  wars,  wherefore  he  by  right  has  got  his 
fair  surname.  Nevertheless  he  could  not  avoid  making 
several  expeditions  to  Yenden,  to  protect  his  country 
against  those  cruel  pirates,  whom  he  pursued  into  all 
the  different  parts  of  the  Baltic,  and  punished  severely 
those  who  fell  into  his  hands,  in  order  to  terrify  others 
by  these  examples.  A  dispute  with  Liemar,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  concerning  some  temporalities,  in- 


102  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

duced  him  to  renew  his  father's  efforts  to  procure  for 
the  North  an  archbishopric  ;  he  also  wished  to  get  his 
murdered  brother,  Canute  the  Pious,  canonized,  or 
enrolled  in  the  calendar  of  saints.  To  supplicate  the 
Pope,  Urbanus  II,  for  it,  he  went  in  person  to  Rome. 
His  petition  was  willingly  granted  by  his  Holiness. 
After  the  king's  return  from  Rome,  Canute  the  Pious 
was  accordingly  taken  up  from  the  grave,  and  with 
great  solemnity  enshrined  in  the  splendid  St.  Canute's 
Church  of  Odensee.  By  this  Denmark  got  a  national 
saint ;  to  whose  grave  pilgrims  traveled  for  many  cen- 
turies, from  all  northern  lands,  in  order  to  pay  their 
devotion  to  his  remains,  hoping  aid  thereby  for  spiritual 
and  bodily  affliction.  Some  time  after  he  vowed  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  Holy  Land,  to  do  penance  and  expiate  a 
murder  he,  most  likely  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  had 
committed.  His  people,  who  loved  him  dearly,  unani- 
mously remonstrated  against  his  design ;  they  embraced 
his  feet,  and  bathed  them  with  their  tears,  begging  that 
he  would  stay  at  home  and  rule  his  kingdom,  and  not 
expose  to  danger  a  life  upon  which  depended  the  felicity 
of  a  whole  kingdom,  and  laid  it  before  him  that  it  was 
more  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  to  remain  and  dis- 
charge his  rdyal  duties.  But  a  mighty  enthusiasm  had 
taken  possession  of  his  mind,  and  crying  out,  "It  is  the 
will  of  God  !"  he  accordingly  set  out.  Passing  through 
Greece,  the  king  was  magnificently  entertained  in  Con- 
stantinople by  Alexius  Commenus,  where  he  spoke  with 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  103 

the  Yarangers,  the  imperial  life-guard,  consisting  of 
northern  people,  chiefly  of  Danes.  From  thence  he  took 
ship  for  Cyprus,  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean,  where 
A.  d.,  shortly  after  his  arrival  he  died,  without  reach- 
1103.  ing  the  sepulchre  of  the  Redeemer ;  but  BotliiU 
dis,  his  devout  queen,  and  faithful  companion  of  his 
pilgrimage,  reached  Jerusalem,  where  she  died,  and  lies 
buried. 

The  canonization  of  Canute  the  Pious,  which  had  been 
granted  by  the  Pope,  became  of  so  great  consequence  that 
in  his  honor  several  clubs  or  fraternities  (Danish,  Gilder), 
were  instituted,  the  object  of  which  was  mutual  protec- 
tion against  violence  and  outrage,  and  mutual  aid  in 
case  of  sickness,  shipwreck,  fire,  and  other  calamities. 
When  a  member  of  such  a  fraternity  was  charged  with 
any  crime,  the  others  were  bound  to  assist  him  by  oath 
and  witness.  Likewise,  when  a  member  had  been 
murdered,  the  others  should  gather  the  fine,  or  if  refused 
to  be  paid,  demand  vengeance  of  blood  on  the  slayer. 
These  fraternities  had,  like  all  institutions  in  the  Middle 
Age,  an  ecclesiastical  stamp.  They  were  dedicated  to 
some  saint,  whose  name  they  adopted.  Donations  were 
given  to  the  church  and  the  poor,  and  requiems  sung  for 
the  dead.  Some  fraternities,  that  enjoyed  a  greater 
reputation  than  others,  were  called  royal,  because  dedi- 
cated to  Canute  the  Pious,  Canute  Lavard  and  Erik 
Ploughpence.  Others  were  established  by  merchants 
and  mechanics.     But  when,  in  course  of  time,  the  laws 


104  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

and  institutions  of  the  State  obtained  more  solidity  and 
strength,  such  private  associations  became  superfluous, 
ceasing,  at  length,  altogether,  by  the  introduction  of 
the  Reformation.  By  means  of  these  fraternities,  which 
promoted  harmony,  fellowship  and  industry  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  same  city,  the  power  and  importance 
of  the  burgher  class  were  considerably  raised  and  ex- 
tended, commerce  developed,  and  prosperity  produced, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  peasantry  remained  in  a 
state  of  deep  dependence. 

Not  till  the  spring  of  next  year  the  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Erick  the  Good  reached  Denmark,  where  now 
Nicholas,  his  brother,  was  elected  king  by  the  people, 
and  their  choice  confirmed  by  the  Diet.  They  were 
urged  the  more  to  do  this  by  the  severity  of  Harold 
Kesia,  a  son  of  Erik  the  Good,  who  had  ruled  the  king- 
dom during  the  absence  of  his  father,  and  who  they  fore- 
saw would  render  them  unhappy  if  they  raised  him  to 
the  throne.  The  Papal  bull  respecting  the  erection  of 
a  national  archbishopric  did  not  arrive  in  Denmark  till 
after  Erik's  departure  for  Palestine,  and  the  first  arch- 
bishop in  the  North,  Adzer,  who  resided  in  Lund,  in 
Skane,  was,  therefore,  not  appointed  before  the  be- 
ginning of  the  reign  of  King  Nicholas,  when  a  Papal 
legate  was  sent  for  that  purpose.  By  this  alteration 
the  Church,  the  power  of  which  Canute  the  Great  and 
Swen  Estrithson  had  founded,  and  Canute  the  Pious 
widely  extended,  obtained  internal  strength  and  position, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  lOo* 

while  the  State  was  yet  too  weak  to  maintain  the  civil 
affairs.  But  frequent  collisions  arose  hereby  between 
the  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal ;  and  the  archbishops  of 
Lund,  on  account  of  their  large  real  estates  and  great 
revenues,  often  made  head  against  the  kings,  and  raised 
seditions  and  civil  wars,  in  which  the  kings  very  often 
got  the  worst,  till  at  length  the  civil  government  ob- 
tained sufficient  moral  strength,  and  the  power  of  the 
Church  had  to  yield  to  that  of  the  State.  The  separa- 
tion of  the  Church  from  the  State  was  consummated  by 
a.  d.,  introducing  celibacy,  the  first  papal  bull  ordering 

1123.  wnioh  was  issued  to  the  Danish  church  shortly 
after  the  creation  of  the  Lundish  archbishopric,  but  met 
with  a  long  and  obstinate  opposition  from  the  Danish 
clergy,  and  a  hundred  years  after  two  hundred  priests 
in  Jutland  protested  decidedly  against  it.  But  in  vain. 
The  unmarried  life  became  a  rule  for  the  clergy  in  the 
North  as  well  as  in  other  Christian  countries,  and  had 
there,  as  everywhere,  the  corruptive  consequence,  that 
the  priests  cohabited  'with  concubines,  and  what  is 
worse,  often  gave  loose  to  appetites,  that  not  only  were 
sordid,  but  inhuman. 

At  first,  King  Nicholas  wielded  his  sceptre  with  great 
applause,  but  falling  off  in  his  character,  he  fell  intt 
the  utmost  contempt,  and  involved  himself  and  his 
country  in  a  variety  of  misfortunes.  The  breach  of  the 
public  tranquillity  took  its  rise  from  the  Yendish  prince 
Henry.     Entering  into  an  alliance  with  the  Nordalbingi, 


106  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

properly  the  Holsteiners,  he  soon  subdued  the  whole 
country  between  the  Elbe  and  Schleswig.  Nicholas 
gave  battle  to  Henry,  whose  horse  broke  through  and 
put  in  confusion  the  Danish  cavalry.  Nicholas  was  de- 
feated, and  forced  to  retreat  with  precipitation  into 
Denmark.  The  peace  of  the  interior  parts  of  the 
country  was  disturbed  by  the  two  turbulent  sons  of 
Erik  the  Good  —  Harald  Kesia  and  Erik  Emun — who 
had  a  bloody  dispute  over  their  patrimony.  Fortunately 
for  the  country,  Canute  Lavard,  their  brother,  was  a 
prince  of  a  noble  mind,  and  inspired  with  patriotic 
feelings  and  love  of  freedom,  which  somehow  supplied 
the  king's  inability.  Constraining  his  brothers  to  keep 
quiet,  chastising  the  rapacious  Venders,  and  perceiving 
the  misery  to  which  the  Duchy  of  Schleswig  was  re- 
duced by  the  Venders  and  Obotriters,  he  requested  the 
government  of  Schleswig,  which  he  at  length  obtained. 
His  first  measure  was  to  subdue  the  haughty  Vendish 
prince,  Henry,  above  mentioned.  With  a  body  of  troops 
he  marched  in  the  middle  of  the  night  directly  to  a 
castle  on  the  frontiers  of  Schleswig,  where  Henry  kept 
his  head-quarters,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  surround 
the  place,  before  the  Vendish  prince  received  any  int; 
mation  of  his  approach.  In  this  situation,  Henry,  per- 
ceiving that  resistance  would  be  fruitless,  mounted  his 
horse  and  escaped,  after  which  he  sued  for  peace, 
promising  to  submit  to  any  terms  which  the  conqueror 
should  think  fit  to  impose.     Thus  the  valor  of  Canute 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  107 

Lavard  not  only  secured  the  Duchy  of  Schleswig  to  the 
crown  of  Denmark,  but  procured  to  himself  the  dignity 
cf  a  Duke.  After  the  Obotritish  royal  family  was 
extinct,  he  became,  through  the  instrumentality  of  his 
admirer,  Lothar  of  Saxony,  (G-erman  Emperor,)  King 
of  the  Obotriters.  He  encouraged  agriculture,  planted 
new  kinds  of  corn,  built  mills,  invited  G-erman  mechanics 
to  settle  in  Roeskilde  and  Schleswig,  and  accustomed 
the  warlike  people  to  the  arts  of  peace.  But  the  great 
esteem  he  enjoyed,  and  the  kindness  and  predilection 
the  people  bestowed  upon  him,  procured  him  enemies, 
who  increased  in  proportion  to  his  virtue.  They  easily 
found  means  to  persuade  the  weak  King,  Nicholas,  and 
his  son  Magnus,  who  was  very  envious  of  Canute,  that 
ambition  was  the  spring  of  all  Canute's  actions ;  that, 
far  from  being  satisfied  with  the  crown  he  wore  and 
with  the  Duchy  of  Schleswig,  he  aspired  at  a  still  higher 
dignity,  and  that  his  popularity  was  paving  an  easy 
way  for  his  ascending  the  •throne  of  Denmark.  The 
plot  was  ready  to  break  out,  when  a  sudden  revolt  in 
Pomerania  and  Mecklenburg  (Obotrit)  called  him  to  his 
own  country,  and  for  a  time  postponed  his  fate.  He 
quickly  subdued  the  rebels,  and  returned  to  Denmark 
Having  no  suspicion  of  treacherv,  he  was  attacked  in  a 
A.  d.,  little  wood  close  by  Ringsted,  in  the  island  of 
113L  Sjelland,  by  Magnus  and  Henry  Skate,  his 
cousins,  and  slain.  Thus  fell  the  generous,  the  great 
Canute  Lavard,  the  ornament  and  support  of  Denmark, 


108  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

and  the  greatest  hero  of  his  age  in  the  North.  But 
he  lives  still  in  the  legends  and  heroic  songs.  He  was 
privately  interred  in  the  church  of  Bingsted,  without 
any  other  monument  than  what  he  had  established  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Danes,  who  to  this  very  day  adore  his 
memory.  The  news  of  his  death  soon  reached  Roes- 
kilde,  the  residence  of  the  court,  and  the  king  him- 
self could  not  help  shedding  tears  at  the  loss  of  this 
great  man,  though  he  was  privy  to  the  plot.  The  mur- 
der committed  on  Canute  Lavard  was  about  to  raise 
a  sedition,  which  was  only  prevented  by  King  Nicho- 
las sentencing  his  son,  Magnus,  to  perpetual  banish- 
ment, who  went  to  Sweden,  where  he  was  elected  king 
of  the  Vestrigoths.  But,  however,  he  soon  returned. 
Upon  the  news  of  his  return,  Erik  Emun,  a  brother 
of  Canute  Lavard,  took  up  arms  to  avenge  his  memory. 
Both  parties  now  prepared  for  war,  and  king  Nicholas 
drew  to  his  side  all  the  bishops  of  Jutland,  and  several 
of  the  principal  nobility  oT  the  kingdom,  besides  the 
conspirators  in  the  murder  of  Canute  Lavard,  who  were 
all  strongly  attached  to  the  interest  of  the  king  and  his 
son  Magnus.  An  obstinate  battle  was  fought  by  Fode- 
vig,  in  Skane,  where  the  mean  Magnus  fell,  a.  d., 
together  with  five  bishops  and  sixty  priests,  and  1134- 
king  Nicholas  escaped  by  an  ignominious  flight  to  the 
city  of  Schleswig,  where  the  members  of  the  fraternity 
of  St.  Canute,  the  surveyor  of  which  Canute  Lavard 
had  been,  assassinated  him  and  his  train,  dispatching 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


109 


the  king  with  twenty  stabs.  Such  was  the  merited 
death  of  king  Nicholas,  after  a  miserable  reign  of  thirty 
years.  "When  his  friends  represented  to  him  the  danger 
of  his  fleeing  to  Schleswig,  so  strongly  attached  to 
Canute,  he  told  them  that  majesty  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  shoemakers  and  tailors.  Nevertheless,  he  fell  by 
the  hands  of  those  very  citizens  he  affected  to  despise 
With  Nicholas  ended  the  reign  of  Swen  Estrithson's 
fifth  son,  according  to  the  promise  Swen  had  on  his 
death-bed  exacted  from  the  nobility. 

Agreeably  to  a  former  election  in  a  full  assembly  of 
the  nobility  and  commons  of  Sjelland  and  Skane,  Erik 
Emun  was  now  proclaimed  king,  and  administered  the 
government  for  three  years,  but  in    a    very  miserable 
and   wicked   way,  his  capricious  cruelty  reigning  un- 
controlled.    He  caused  his  brother,  Harald  Kesia,  and 
his  nine  sons  to  be  put  to  death,   without  remorse  or 
pity,  believing,  as  he  said,  that  neither  his  own  authority 
nor    the    public    tranquillity  -could  be    sufficiently   es- 
tablished while  his  brother  and  nephews  lived.     As  for 
the  youngest  son  of  Harald  Kesia,  he  made  his  escape 
in  a  peasant's  dress  to  Sweden.     Meanwhile  the  Yen 
ders  made  a  sudden  irruption  into  Holstein,   and  laid 
waste  with  terrible  desolation  every  place  through  which 
they  passed.      To  repress  their   insolence,  Erik  Emun 
assembled  a  fleet,  embarking  in  each  vessel  four  horse 
men,  (the  very  first  time  that  cavalry  was  carried  over 
the  sea,)  besides  foot,  with  which  armament  he  passed 


110 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


over  into  their  country,  and  soon  reduced  it.  From 
thence  he  went  to  the  Isle  of  Rygen  to  punish  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  not  only  assisted  the  Venders,  but 
exercised  the  most  desperate  piracy  on  the  high  sea. 
Having  subdued  them,  he  compelled  the  whole  island 
to  swear  allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Denmark.  They 
did  not,  however,  long  continue  in  this  state  of  submis- 
sion, for  no  sooner  had  Erik  Emun  returned  to  Den- 
mark, than  they  revolted  again,  and  assisted  the  Ven- 
ders. Some  disturbances  arose  now  in  Norway  be- 
tween Harald  Grille  and  Magnus  Sigurdson.  Harald 
solicited  Erik  Emun's  aid,  who  made  no  scruple  ol 
promising  it  as  soon  as  he  had  put  an  end  to  the  affairs 
in  which  the  revolt  of  the  Isle  of  Rygen  and  its  capi- 
tal, Arcona,  now  involved  him. 

Against  these  islanders  he  set  out  a  second  time,  and 
so  totally  subjected  them  that  he  apprehended  no  other 
rebellion.  He  thereafter  applied  himself  to  the  perform- 
ance of  his  promise  to  Harald  Grille,  passed  over  to  Nor- 
way with  his  army,  and,  in  a  decisive  action  with 
Magnus,  defeated  him  and  took  him  prisoner.  His 
victory  he  disgraced  by  his  cruelty  ;  for,  to  prevent  all 
attempts  to  reinstate  the  unfortunate  king,  he  put  out 
his  eyes,  emasculated  him,  and  enclosed  him  for  life  in 
a  monastery,  raising  Harald  Grille  to  the  throne  of  Nor- 
way. While  his  mind  was  thus  cruelly  employed,  an 
unfortunate  dispute  arose  among  the  bishops  about  the 
archbishopric  of  Lund,  then  vacant.     Eskild,  bishop  of 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  Hi 

Roeskilde,  supported  by  the  people,  raised  an  army  and 
obliged  the  cruel  king  to  retire  to  Jutland,  where  his 
oeople,  weary  of  bearing  his  cruelty,  caused  Black- 
A.  D.,  plogus,  a  nobleman,  to  kill  him,  while  adminis- 
1137.  tering  justice  in  full  court.  As  none  of  the  three 
princes,  who  because  of  their  birth  were  most  entitled 
to  th£  crown,  to  wit :  Siven,  son  of  Erik  Emun,  Walde- 
mar,  son  of  Canute  Lavard,  and  Canute,  son  of  Nicho- 
las, had  yet  reached  the  maturity  of  age,  Erik  Lamb,  a 
nephew  of  Erik  the  Grood,  surnamed  the  Lamb,  from  the 
mildness  of  his  disposition,"  was  chosen  king.  He  had 
scarce  ascended  the  throne  when  the  divisions  among 
the  clergy  broke  out  afresh.  Eskild  went  over  to 
Skane,  and  assumed  the  title  and  authority  of  primate, 
without  obtaining,  or  indeed  asking,  the  permission  of 
the  new  king,  who,  observing  the  obstinacy  with  which 
the  whole  province  of  Skane  espoused  his  cause,  had  to 
drop  all  resistance.  The  dispute  about  this  archbishopric 
of  Lund,  was  the  first  occasion  the  kings  of  Denmark 
had  to  repent  of  their  having  invested  their  prelates  with 
temporal  authority,  and  elevated  them  to  such  a  pitch 
of  power  as  rendered  them  dangerous  to  their  sovereigns. 
Erik  Lamb  also  made  an  expedition  against  the  Ven- 
ders, who  had  resumed  their  old  trade  of  piracy,  but  he 
came  off  unsuccessfully ;  after  which  he  fell  into  an 
inactivity  and  indolence  that  greatly  impaired  his  repu- 
tation, and  at  length  he  embraced  the  resolution  of 
renouncing  his  throne,  and  of  passing  the  remainder  of 


112  HISTORV     OF     SCANDIXAVIA. 

Iiis  days  in  quiet  retirement  and  monastic  penance,  in 
the  convent  of  St.  Canute,  in  Odensee,  where  he  lived  a 
short  time,  busied  with  the  practices  of  religion   a.  d., 
and  pious  contemplation.  lu7 

Upon  the  death  of  Erik  Lamb,  a  civil  war  of  ten 
years  broke  out  between  the  three  princes  above  men- 
tioned, and  the  frequent  and  destructive  invasions  of 
the  Venders  reduced  Denmark  to  great  straits.  An 
agreement  was,  however,  made  between  the  three  pre- 
tenders, who  shared  the  countries  of  Denmark  with  one 
another;  but  the  agreement  was  not  sincerely  meant, 
for  Swend  and  Waldemar  soon  after  turned  Canute  out 
of  the  country,  who  had  to  flee  to  the  German  emperor, 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  for  refuge.  The  empe-  a.  d., 
ror,  anxious  to  get  a  proper  opportunity  to  renew  1153. 
the  old  pretension  to  superiority  over  Denmark,  was 
fain  to  meddle  with  this  affair,  and  invited  Swen  and 
Waldemar  to  the  Diet  of  Merseburg,  where  Swen  had 
to  acknowledge  himself  a  vassal  of  the  emperor,  and 
grant  Canute  a  share  of  Denmark.  After  returning, 
he  would  not,  however,  acknowledge  his  vassalage ;  and 
by  assuming  German  manners  and  customs,  he  lost  the 
love  of  his  people.  An  insurrection  broke  out  in  Skane, 
and  he  maintained  only  a  few  years  a  precarious  power, 
though  assisted  by  the  treacherous  archbishop  Eskild, 
of  Lund,  and  by  German  auxiliaries  from  Henry  Lion, 
of  Saxony,  and  at  length  he  had  to  share  the  realm 
with,  his   competitors      Swen   now  mused  on  treason. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


113 


and  he  and  Eskild  agreed  to  kill  Canute  and  Waldemar, 
who  were  treacherously  invited  to  a  drinking-bout  in 
Roeskilde.  Canute  was  murdered,  "but  Waldemar  put 
out  the  candles,  and  perceiving  the  door  standing  ajar, 
he  pushed  it  open  and  escaped  to  Jutland,  where  he 
met  his  friend,  the  martial  Absalon,  afterward  bishop 
of  Roeskilde  and  archbishop  of  Lund,  who  also  had 
fled  away  from  the  slaughter.  A  battle  was  fought  on 
G-ratheheath  by  Wiborg,  where  Swen,  later  called  Swen 
A.  D.,  Grathe,  lost  battle  and  life,  his  corpse  being  cast 
1157-  into  a  stone-quarry.  Thus  ended  all  the  plots 
and  machinations  of  the  treacherous  Swen.  Seldom 
were  victorious  news  more  jay  fully  received  than  the 
tidings  of  the  victory  over  Swen.  The  people  cried  out 
for  a  ruler  to  lead  the  troops  to  conquest  and  reinforce 
the  whole  army ;  and  the  Danish  crown  devolved  now 
on  Waldemar,  the  glorious  son  of  Canute  Lavard,  for 
many  years  a  model  for  kings. 


lltt  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

m. 

1157—1241. 

Waldemar  I.  the  Great — Absalon — Canute  VI — Bugislaw,  of  Pomerania-^ 
"Waldemar  II.  the  Conqueror — Conquests  along  the  Baltic — Esthonia— 
The  Captivity  of  the  King — Science  and  the  Arts. 

Waldemar  I.  was  joyfully  received  as  king,  and 
began  his  reign  with  the  practice  of  every  virtue  that 
became  a  sovereign.  He  owed  much  of  his  success  to 
his  manners  as  well  as  to  the  uncommon  energy  of  his 
mind.  His  composure  of  countenance  and  firmness  of 
manner,  says  Saxo  Grammaticus,  were  so  great,  that 
whatever  resolution  he  had  formed,  he  would  adhere  to. 
His  first  step  towards  gaining  the  esteem  and  affection 
of  his  subjects,  was  the  conquering  of  the  lands  along 
the  Baltic,  and  the  putting  a  stop  to  the  destructive 
piracies  of  the  Venders.  He  made,  therefore,  several 
expeditions;  but  Henry  Lion,  of  Saxony,  above  named, 
also  keeping  a  strict  eye  upon  Yenden,  and  having 
already  subdued  several  of  these  lands,  endeavored  to 
enlarge  his  dominion  over  the  whole.  "Waldemar,  there- 
fore, judged  it  wise  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa.  To  obtain  his  alliance 
was  not  difficult  for  Waldemar,  the  more  as  the  empe- 
/or  considered  the  power  of  the  Danish  king  a  useful 
bulwark  against  the  ambitious  Henry  Lion,  who  contin- 
ually went  too  far  By  his  affability  and  elo-  a.  d., 
quence,  he  won  the  emperor's  affection  and  confi-    1162 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  115 

dence  so  much  as  to  promise  Denmark  energetic  assist- 
ance to  conquer  Venden.  Waldemar  the  Great,  brave 
himself,  and  skilled  in  war,  and  assisted  by  such  a  hero 
as  bishop  Absalon  (also  called  Axel),  continued  inde- 
fatigably  his  endeavors  for  subduing  Yenden,  to  which 
he  made  twenty  expeditions.  Absalon  fitted  out  a 
large  fleet  and  army,  which,  cruising  round  the  Vendish 
coasts,  landed  at  various  places,  plundered  the  towns, 
which  were  unprotected  by  the  inhabitants,  conquered 
Arcona,  the  fortified  capital  of  the  island  of  Rygen. 
and  destroyed  their  idol,  Svantevit,  on  which  they 
firmly  relied,  the  pagan  priests  telling  that  this  idol 
every  night  rode  a  white  horse  and  persecuted  the  foes  of 
the  Venders.  This  horse,  therefore,  was  every  morning 
exposed,  covered  with  sweat,  to  the  view  of  the  people, 
to  confirm  their  belief,  and  consequently  they  were 
astonished  at  seeing  Svantevit,  without  any  resistance, 
dashed  to  pieces  by  the  Danes.  The  feeling  between 
"Waldemar  and  Henry  Lion,  varied  very  often,  but  was 
never  very  good,  though  a  marriage  was  agreed  upon 
between  Gertrude,  the  duke's  daughter,  and  Canute, 
the  king's  son.  While  all  this  was  passing,  an  embassy 
came  from  Norway,  requesting  Waldemar  to  assist  the 
"Norwegian  king,  Erling  Skakke,  and  his  son  Magnus 
Erlingsen,  against  Sverre,  a  competitor  for  the  crown 
Crossing  over  with  an  army,  he  was  joyfully  received, 
the  campaign  resulting  in  the  Norwegian  province 
Vigen's  yielding  to  Waldemar.     Having  thus  rendered 


HQ  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

himself  master  of  the  whole  of  Venden,  converted  the 
inhabitants  to  Christianity,  and  conquered  a  part  of 
Norway,  "Waldemar  had  duties,  in  his  opinion,  para- 
mount to  all  other  considerations,  namely,  to  preserve 
his  kingdom  from  civil  war.  He  caused  therefore,  his 
son,  Canute,  to  he  elected  his  successor,  anointed  and 
crowned.  But  the  many  princes  aspiring  to  the  crown, 
were  very  much  displeased  with  this  action  of  Walde- 
mar, one  of  whom,  Bun's,  a  nephew  of  Swen  Estrithson, 
mused  upon  treason,  but  was  caught,  maimed,  and 
incarcerated.  The  archbishop  Eskild,  of  Lund,  who 
already,  as  bishop  of  Roeskilde,  had  stirred  up  a  sedi- 
tion against  Erik  Emun,  and  shared  in  the  civil  war 
after  the  death  of  Erik  Lamb,  dared  also  to  defy 
Waldemar  ;  but  the  king's  rapid  progress  obliged  the 
proud  Eskild  to  ask  peace  in  the  most  submissive  terms, 
and  to  restore  to  the  king  all  the  possessions  which  the 
former  kings  had  given  to  the  see  of  Lund.  Eskild 
was  so  chagrined  with  this  humiliation,  that  he  resigned 
his  mitre  and  retired  to  a  private  convent  in  France, 
where  he  stayed  for  seven  years.  But  after  his  return 
to  Denmark,  his  position  became  yet  more  slippery,  his 
two  nephews  engaging  themselves  in  a  con-  a.  d., 
spiracy  against  the  king.  Suspected  and  hated,  im- 
he  soon  after  repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  died.  Absalon 
was  elected  his  successor  to  the  archbishopric  of  Lund. 
It  was  shortly  before  these  affairs  with  the  rebellious 
Eskild  that  Waldemar  laid  the  foundation  of  the  city 


HISTORY     OP     SCANDINAVIA.  H7 

of  Dantzic,  in  "Western  Prussia,  so  famed  for  its  trade 
and  opulence.  At  first  it  was  composed  of  the  huts  of 
poor  fishermen,  but  Waldemar  conferring  upon  the 
inhabitants  certain  privileges  and  immunities,  it  soon 
became  a  flourishing  place  of  commerce.  Thereafter 
he  founded  in  Denmark  the  cities  of  Nyborg,  Corsor, 
and  Callundborg.  About  the  same  time  Absalon  built 
the  castle  of  Stegelburg,  afterwards  called  Axelhusia, 
then  Hafnia,  and  now  the  celebrated  port  and  city  of 
Copenhagen.  The  intention  of  this  castle  was  to  over- 
awe the  pirates,  and  afford  a  safe  protection  to  the 
Danish  merchantmen. 

Towards  the  close  of  Waldemar's  life  a  revolt  hap- 
pened in  Skane,  to  appease  which  the  king  immediately 
dispatched  Absalon.  The  inhabitants,  displeased  with 
the  oppressions  of  the  royal  bailiffs,  and  with  the  institution 
of  tithe  allotted  to  the  clergy  for  their  support,  raised 
a  great  sedition,  refused  to  pay  the  usual  taxes,  and 
particularly  the  bishop's  tithe,  and  restored  to  the  infe- 
rior clergy  their  ancient  privilege  of  marriage.  They 
insisted  that  the  superior  clergy  were  an  unnecessary 
load  upon  the  people,  fattening  upon  the  spoils  of  the 
land,  while  their  flocks  were  left  to  find  heaven  in  their 
own  way.  Waldemar,  however,  being  more  favored  by  the 
peasantry  than  Absalon,  was  prosperous  in  quelling  this 
sedition  by  fair  means ;  but  when  the  imperious  Absa- 
lon would  by  no  means  desist  from  claiming  his  tithe, 
which  circumstance  contributed  in  no  slight  degree  to 


118  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

heighten  their  animosity,  they  rebelled  anew,  but  were 
totally  defeated  by  Absalon  at  Dysiaa,  in  Skane,  a.  d., 
and  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  yielding  to  the  118L 
terms  of  the  king.  Soon  after  "Waldemar  the  Great 
expired,  after  a  glorious  reign  of  twenty-five  a.  d., 
years.  The  respect  in  which  he  was  held  was  ns2. 
strikingly  exhibited  at  his  death.  The  peasants  drew 
the  hearse,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  church 
of  Ringsted,  and  it  was  ordained  by  the  citizens  that  his 
memory  should  be  held  in  reverence.  Canute  VI.,  his  son, 
already  chosen  to  succeed  him  to  the  throne,  began  his 
reign  with  pursuing  the  same  course  as  his  great  father, 
guided  and  assisted  by  the  same  faithful  counselors 
and  brave  warriors,  archbishop  Absalon  and  his  brother, 
Esbern  Snare,  to  whom  was  soon  added  the  king's  own 
brother,  the  victorious  Waldemar.  His  reign  was  uni- 
versally acceptable  to  the  people,  as  he  appeared  equally 
remarkable  for  his  firmness,  clemency,  liberality,  acti- 
vity, and  justice.  The  first  business  he  was  engaged  in, 
after  his  ascending  the  throne,  was  to  answer  the  Ger- 
man emperor,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  who,  through  an 
embassy  sent  to  Denmark,  had  enjoined  on  the  young 
king  the  duty  of  acknowledging  himself  a  vassal  of  the 
Roman  empire.  His  answer,  in  this  emergency,  shows 
the  energy  of  Canute's  character.  "Please  to  inform 
your  emperor,"  he  said,  "  that  the  king  of  Denmark  is 
just  as  independent  in  his  kingdom  as  the  German  or 
Roman  emperor  in  his  empire,  and  that  it  were  better 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  119 

for  me  to  resign  my  crown,  than  to  submit  myself  to 
him,  even  if  he  should  declare  war  against  mt  for  reject- 
ing his  impudent  enjoinment.  I  am  ready  to  put  my 
army  in  motion,  and  thus  decide  the  fate  of  my  king- 
dom." This  answer  highly  exasperated  the  haughty 
emperor,  who  now  stimulated  Bugislaw,  Duke  of  Pome- 
rania,  to  attack  Denmark.  The  Duke  prepared  himself 
to  attack  the  isle  of  Rygen  with  five  hundred  men  of 
war,  but  Absalon,  informed  of  it,  and  seeing  that  no 
moment  was  to  be  lost,  fitted  out  a  fleet  and  overtook 
the  surprised  Venders,  who  lost  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
A.  d.,  five  ships,  threw  down  their  arms  and  sued  for 
1184.  quarter,  and  the  proud  spirit  of  the  duke  began 
to  give  way.  After  this  glorious  victory,  Pomerania  and 
the  Obotritic  Yenden  had  to  submit  to  Denmark,  Canute 
VI.  now  taking  the  title,  King  of  the  Slavi  and  Venders. 
Afterwards  Canute  made  several  expeditions  to  the 
eastern  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  made  conquests  in  Esthonia, 
and  forced  the  inhabitants  to  embrace  Christianity,  but 
the  Danes  no  sooner  left,  than  they  returned  to  heathen- 
ism and  piracy.  The  war  being  ended  between  Den- 
mark and  Venden,  a  profound  peace  ensued  for  some 
years  ;  the  Danes  thus  having  an  opportunity  of  turning 
to  the  arts  of  peace.  But  while  they  were  thus  cultiva- 
ting peaceful  occupations,  the  vigilant  king  was  not 
unmindful  of  making  fresh  preparations  for  war,  well 
knowing  that  these  intervals  of  ease  would  not  fail  to  give 
his  enemies  fresh  vigor  for  new  designs.     Adolph,  Count 


120  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

of  Holstein,  the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg,  and  several  princes  of  Northern  Germany, 
happened  to  make  depredations  on  the  Danish  coasts, 
wishing  to  arrest  the  strongly  rising  power  of  Denmark. 
This  mighty  alliance  became  the  more  dangerous,  as 
bishop  Waldemar,  of  Schleswig,  an  illegitimate  son  of 
Canute  Magnusson,  above  mentioned,  was  meditating 
treacherous  plans,  and  intended  to  take  part  with  the 
German  enemies  of  Denmark,  and  with  king  Sverre  of 
Norway.  But  nothing  was  capable  of  subduing  the 
courage  of  the  king  and  of  his  undaunted  brother,  Wal- 
demar,  Duke  of  Schleswig,  who  captured  and  imprisoned 
the  rebellious  bishop,  and  defeated  the  other  foes.  The 
bishop  was  put  into  a  gloomy  prison,  where  he  was 
compelled  to  pine  for  many  years.  Adolph  had  to  yield 
himself  prisoner  of  war ;  Holstein,  Liibeck,  Hamburg, 
and  Lauenburg  to  submit  to  Denmark,  and  the  Count 
of  Schwerin  to  acknowledge  himself  a  vassal  of  the 
Danish  king ;  Denmark  thus  now  being  invested  with  a 
greater  power  than  ever  before.  But  towards  the  close 
of  the  reign  of  Canute  VI.,  a  marriage  between  Inge- 
borg,  a  sister  to  Canute,  and  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  occasioned  a  vehement  dispute,  Philip  repudi- 
ating the  princess,  and  not  till  a  papal  edict  from  Inno- 
cent III.  had  compelled  him  to  join  her  again,  was  the 
dispute  abated,  and  a  threatening  war  avoided.  After 
an  active  reign  of  twenty  years,  Canute  VI.  died,  a.  I)., 
universally  lamented.     A  year  before,  Absalon,     im 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  121 

his  friend  and  wise  counselor,  had  been  stricken  by  the 
hand  of  death.  This  extraordinary  man — the  greatest 
man  the  North  had  produced  in  the  Middle  Ages — was 
possessed  of  the  greatest  courage  in  opposing  danger, 
and  the  greatest  presence  of  mind  in  retiring  from  it. 
No  fatigue  was  able  to  subdue  his  body,  nor  any  misfor- 
tune to  break  his  spirit ;  and  moreover,  he  was  a  wise 
counselor  in  public  and  ecclesiastical  concerns,  and  a 
great  friend  of  science  and  the  arts.  Under  the  power- 
ful direction  of  such  influential  archbishops  as  Eskild, 
Absalon,  and  his  successor,  Andrew  Suneson,  the  eccle- 
siastical affairs  gained  a  firm  footing,  Eskild  composing 
a  canon  law  for  Skane,  and  Absalon  one  for  Denmark  ; 
both  of  which  were  admitted  of  by  the  people  and  con- 
firmed by  the  king.  But,  unfortunately,  the  power  of 
the  clergy  was  now  increasing  too  much.  In  exclusive 
possession  of  the  learning  of  the  time,  and  from  the  Pope 
invested  with  the  power  of  deciding  the  salvation  of 
men's  souls,  the  clergy  acquired  very  easily  a  vast 
authority  over  the  illiterate  people  of  the  Middle  Ages ; 
and  the  superior  clergy,  besides  their  ecclesiastical 
dignities,  were  frequently  in  possession  of  the  most 
influential  and  lucrative  offices  of  the  state,  and  the 
archbishoprics,  bishoprics,  and  abbacies,  gradually  ob- 
tained great  possessions,  so  as  to  be  nearly  raised  to 
an  equality  with  principalities.  The  archbishops  and 
bishops  had  fortified  castles,  kept  soldiers,  and  were 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice,  to  make  head  against  the 


122  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

kings.  As  the  church  increased  in  intrinsic  strength,  sc 
she  grew  in  riches  arid  external  power.  Both  kings 
and  private  people  endowed  her  with  an  immense 
deal  of  real  estates ;  and  by  the  immunity  conferred 
by  the  kings  upon  the  church,  she  attained  a  degree 
of  opulence  and  splendor  nearly  unrivaled,  unless  in 
Italy,  during  the  Middle  Ages  ;  while  unfortunately  the 
augmentation  of  the  wealth  of  the  church  brought  with 
it  a  detrimental  appetite  for  expensive  and  demoralizing 
pleasures  amongst  the  clergy.  At  the  period  under  con- 
sideration, the  nobility,  equal  in  rank  to  the  clergy,  but 
above  the  burgher  class,  and  the  peasantry,  commenced 
to  be  a  peculiar  class,  with  peculiar  privileges  ;  the 
whole  population  of  Denmark  thus  being  divided  into 
nobility,  clergy,  burghers,  and  peasantry.  The  nobles 
possessed  considerable  estates  in  land,  and  were  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  of  the  people,  not  by  know- 
ledge and  cultivation  of  mind,  but  only  by  their  superior 
luxury,  and  they  often  ruled  the  public  affairs  by  the 
weight  of  an  authority  gained  from  riches  and  merce- 
nary dependents.  In  short,  the  kingdom  came  now  for 
many  centuries  under  the  tyranny  of  a  hateful  aristo- 
cracy, which  the  kings  themselves  often  could  hardly 
master,  afterwards  bitterly  repenting  of  having  raised 
such  dregs  of  society.  At  first  the  nobility  was  only 
personal,  but  became  in  the  period  following  hereditary, 
the  obligations  being  few,  but  the  prerogatives  and  pri« 
vileges  not  to  be  numbered 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  123 

Cotemporary  with  Canute  VI.  of  Denmark  was  Sverre, 
A.  D.,  Norway's  estimable  and  memorable  king.  He  was 
1151.  Dorn  H51?  and  a  son  of  king  Sigurd  Haroldson 
and  queen  Gunhild.  After  the  death  of  king  Sigurd, 
the  queen  married  a  plain  comber  or  hair-dresser,  and, 
hearing  that  the  mighty  earl  Erling  Skakke  meditated 
the  extinction  of  the  whole  royal  Norwegian  family, 
she  represented  the  young  prince  Sverre  to  be  the  son 
of  the  hair-dresser.  However,  not  believing  herself  safe 
in  Norway,  she  went  with  her  husband  and  the  prince  to 
the  Faroe  Isles,  where  her  brother-in-law  was  bishop. 
The  bishop  adopted  Sverre,  caused  him  to  study  theo- 
logy, and  ordained  him  a  priest.  But  he  was  soon  in- 
formed of  his  royal  extraction;  for  his  mother  had,  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  disclosed  this  secret  to  a  priest 
in  the  confessional,  who  compelled  her  to  relate  it  to 
Sverre.  The  life  of  an  ecclesiastic  now  became  distaste- 
ful to  him,  and  he  returned  to  Norway  to  claim  his  an- 
cestral throne.  After  being  exposed  for  many  years  to 
continual  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  after  the  death  of 
the  mighty  and  crafty  Erling  Skakke,  Sverre  at  length 
A.  D.,  succeeded  in  being  proclaimed  King  of  Norway. 
1177-  He  was,  however,  far  from  finding  his  throne  a 
bed  of  roses.  Throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  reign 
he  had  to  struggle  against  internal  foes,  often  baffling 
his  best  designs.  In  the  first  place,  he  had  to  fight  with 
the  expelled  king,  Magnus  Erlingson,  a  son  of  Erling 
Skakke,  who  returned  from  Denmark  with  a  mighty 
fleet;    but,  fortunately  for  Sverre,  Magnus  was,  after 


124  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

much  shedding  of  blood,  drowned,  when,  after  a  lost  nava1 
battle,  he  was  trying  to  save  himself  by  swim-  a.d., 
ming.  Afterwards  a  legion  of  spurious  princes  1184- 
arose,  all  of  whom,  with  fictitious  and  ill-founded  preten- 
sions to  the  crown,  knew  how  to  raise  factious  partieSj 
the  worst  of  whom  were  the  rebellious  Baglers,  who  fre- 
quently eluded  his  vigilance.  But,  under  perilous  cir- 
cumstances, Sverre  was  never  irresolute.  -With  fresh  and 
undismayed  troops,  and  with  large  and  well-built  men-of- 
war,  he  fought  battle  after  battle,  till  finally  the  rebels 
were  entirely  routed  and  had  to  flee  to  Denmark.  Yet 
the  peace  which  the  subjugation  of  the  Baglers  gave  him 
was  only  of  short  duration;  for  no  sooner  had  Sverre 
gained  the  ascendency  over  all  those  pretenders  and 
factious  parties  than  he  had  to  endure  a  long  and  weari- 
some contest  with  the  clergy,  whose  enormous  preroga- 
tives, which  the  expelled  king,  Magnus  Erlingson,  had 
conferred  on  them,  he  tried  to  restrict.  The  archbishop 
Erik  exceeded  all  bounds  in  impudence  and  unyielding 
obstinacy.  He  taxed  the  people  without  the  consent  of 
the  king,  cursed  him  from  the  pulpit  because  he  had, 
without  the  pope's  permission,  left  the  clerical  order, 
and  prevailed  upon  the  pope  to  interdict  the  king  and 
the  whole  kingdom.  However,  this  interdict,  or  ban, — 
the  very  first  in  Norway, — did  not  produce  the  effect 
intended:  the  people  did  not  know  its  meaning;  the 
clergy  did  not  venture  to  carry  it  into  effect ;  and  the 
sagacious  king  delivered  an  eloquent  speech,  in  which 
he  proved  from  holy  writ  that  the  pope  had  no  author- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  125 

ity  to  interfere  with  his  mode  of  ruling.  Afterwards  a 
cardinal  came  to  Norway.  He  was  cordially  received, 
and  promised  to  crown  the  king, — a  ceremony  in  those 
days  of  great  importance  to  establish  a  king's  authority. 
But  the  rebellious  bishops  persuaded  the  cardinal  to 
break  his  promise,  under  the  pretext  that  the  king  was 
hostile  to  the  whole  clergy.  On  hearing  that  the  car- 
dinal had  violated  his  promise,  Sverre  became  provoked 
to  rage,  summoned  the  clerical  knave  before  him,  and 
said,  "I  understand  that  thy  errand  to  my  country  is 
like  that  of  other  impostors :  thou  wilt  enrich  thyself  at 
my  expense,  thereafter  to  deride  me.  Begone,  I  bid 
thee,  and  nevermore  venture  to  set  thy  foot  on  the  soil 
of  my  country." 

But,  in  spite  of  the  many  difficulties  with  which  Sverre 
had  continually  to  contend,  he  did  not  neglect  to  provide 
for  the  internal  welfare  of  his  kingdom.  He  restrained 
the  prevailing  drunkenness  by  forbidding  German  mer- 
chants to  import  wine  and  liquor ;  he  improved  the  public 
•oads  and  promoted  literature.  Being  a  man  of  letters 
himself,  and  well  versed  in  Latin,  theology,  and  the  old 
saga-literature,  Sverre  caused  the  celebrated  work  called 
the  Royal  Mirror  (Kongespeilet)  to  be  published,  written 
in  the  old  Norse  language  and  containing  most  valuable 
information  of  the  manners,  morals,  and  history  of  that 
age.  This  noble,  gallant,  and  magnanimous  king  died 
in  the  city  of  Bergen.  On  his  death-bed  he  for-  a.  d., 
gave  all  his  enemies,  and,  to  prevent  new  contro-  1202- 
versies  about  the  succession  to  the  throne,  he  solemnly 


126  HISTORY    OP    SCANDINAVIA. 

declared  that  he  had  but  one  son  alive,  who  was  elected 
king  under  the  name  of  Hakon  III. ;  but  after  a  peace- 
ful reign  of  two  years  he  departed  life,  and  Norway 
was  again,  for  thirty-three  years,  harassed  by  civil  wars, 
which  brought  her  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin.  Finally, 
however,  a  deliverer  was  raised  up,  in  the  person  of 
king  Hakon  Hakonson,  or  Hakon  IV.,  a  grandson  of 
Sverre.  Only  sixteen  years  old,  he  was  proclaimed  a.  d., 
king.  For  more  than  twenty  years  the  young  1217- 
king  had  to  battle  with  factious  parties,  with  the  whole 
clergy,  and  with  his  own  father-in-law,  the  mighty  duke 
Skule.  At  length  he  succeeded  in  subduing  all  of  them, 
and  in  finishing  the  disastrous  internal  wars  that  for 
more  than  a  century  had  ravaged  and  desolated  Norway. 
In  activity  and  ability  Hakon  Hakonson  holds  perhaps 
the  foremost  rank  of  all  the  kings  of  old  Norway  on 
record.  He  improved  agriculture,  enacted  judicious  laws, 
erected  churches  and  cloisters  for  the  promulgation  of 
Chri  <tianity,  surrounded  the  cities  of  Bergen  and  Tons- 
berg  with  stronger  fortifications,  and  kept  a  fleet  of 
three  hundred  ships  of  war.  He  enlarged  his  dominions 
by  a)  nexing  the  island  of  Iceland  to  Norway;  and  the 
Greei  landers  swore  allegiance  to  him.  Even  abroad 
Hakoi  enjoyed  such  respect  that  Pope  Innocent  IV. 
court'id  his  friendship,  and  promised  him  the  imperial 
crown  of  Germany  if  he  would  help  him  to  subdue  the 
haughty  Frederick  the  Second  of  Hohenstaufen.  But 
Ha^on  refused  to  intermeddle  with  the  pope's  private 
affairs.     Louis  the  Holy  of  France  invited  him  to  par- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  127 

ticipate  in  a  crusade  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  offered  him  the  chief  command  of  the  united  French 
and  Norwegian  fleet.  But  Hakon  declined  accepting  the 
glorious  offer,  believing  it  preferable  to  remain  and  dis- 
charge his  royal  duties.  Even  the  King  of  Tunis  did  not 
consider  it  below  his  dignity  to  receive  embassadors  and 
presents  from  the  king  of  this  remote  quarter  of  the 
globe ;  and  Philip,  a  brother  of  King  Alphonso  of  Cas- 
tile in  Spain,  considered  Norway  important  enough  for 
him  to  come  to  her  for  a  bride,  Hakon's  lovely  daughter 
Christina.  Of  literature  he  was  a  munificent  patron. 
The  celebrated  Icelandic  historian,  Snorre  Sturlason. 
enjoyed  his  intimate  friendship,  and  was  even  appointed 
the  king's  court-marshal  and  invested  with  a  fee  or  cor- 
poreal hereditament.  After  a  glorious,  useful,  and  vic- 
A.  D.,  torious  career,  Hakon  Hakonson,  also  called 
1263.  ffakm  the  Old,  died,  A.  D.  1263,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Magnus  Lagabeter, —  i.e.  the  im- 
prover of  laws,  because  he  revised  and  improved  the 
ancient'  laws  of  Norway.  But,  however  much  good  he 
did  in  this  respect,  he  cannot  claim  any  part  of  the  great 
honor  which  deservedly  invests  the  name  of  his  father ; 
for  under  his  administration  Norway's  prosperity  de- 
clined, the  nobility  and  the  clergy  usurped  all  civil  and 
political  privileges,  while  the  burgher  class  and  the  pea- 
santry were  treated  with  no  marks  of  respect,  the  navy 
decreased,  and  the  Norwegian  commerce  came  under  the 
entire  control  of  the  mighty  Hanse  league.  But  we  re- 
sume the  history  of  Denmark. 


12S  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

Canute  VI.  being  childless,  his  brother,  Waldemar  II., 
the  Conqueror,  ascended  the  throne,  receiving  in  Lubeck 
homage  from  the  subjugated  lands  and  princes.  Hol- 
stein,  which  Count  Adolph,  to  regain  his  liberty, 
resigned,  was  given  to  Waldemar's  nephew,  Albert  of 
Orlamiinde.  Waldemar  II.  prosecuted  the  conquests  of 
his  father  and  grandfather.  The  affairs  in  Germany- 
were  very  favorable  for  Waldemar  in  carrying  out  his 
designs.  Philip  of  Schwaben,  Otto  IV.  a  son  of  Henry 
Lion  of  Saxony,  and  Frederick  II.  of  Hohenstaufen, 
who  disputed  for  the  dominion,  all  attempted  to  gain 
the  friendship  and  protection  of  "Waldemar  II.  Wal 
demar  resolved  to  assist  Frederick  II.,  who  returned  to 
the  Danish  king,  as  a  sign  of  gratitude,  an  imperial 
letter  of  confirmation  in  his  German  and  Vendish 
conquests.  Saxony,  Bremen,  Brandenburg,  and  several 
A.  D.,  countries  in  Northern  Germany  joined  together 
12U-  to  oppose  this  monarch's  power  and  progress,  and 
raised  a  strong  army,  ready  to  act  wherever  its  services 
should  be  required,  which  was,  however,  too  weak  to  re- 
sist his  victorious  arms.  Waldemar  had  long  been  bent 
upon  humbling  the  rebellious  bishop  Waldemar  of 
Schleswig,  who,  after  being  set  at  liberty,  had  again 
taken  part  with  the  enemies  of  his  fatherland,  and  got 
himself  appointed  archbishop  of  Bremen.  But  Wal- 
demar the  Conqueror  understood  how  to  teach  him 
obedience,  and  at  length  he  was  obliged  to  have  re* 
course  to  a  cloister,  where,  showing  a  very  bad  moral 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  120 

conduct,  and  sinking  even  to  the  level  of  vulgar  men, 
he  terminated  his  dishonorable  life.  No  sooner  had  the 
German  affairs  permitted  "Waldemar  to  breathe  a  little 
freely,  than  he  undertook  several  expeditions  to  the 
remoter  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  conquering  considerable 
tracts  of  Prussia;  but  most  remarkable  is  his  great 
expedition  to  Esthonia  (called  the  Northern  Crusade) 
under  the  command  of  the  archbishop  Andrew  Suneson 
Neither  Denmark  nor  the  other  Scandinavian  a.  d., 
countries  having  taken  any  share  in  the  great  1219- 
European  crusades  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land, 
Waldemar  the  Conqueror  considered  himself  greatly 
indebted  to  the  Christian  Church.  He  went,  therefore, 
to  Esthonia,  to  christen  the  heathen  inhabitants.  The 
Esthlanders,  at  first  pretending  subjection,  fell  suddenly 
upon  the  Danish  army,  near  to  Reval,  and  a  great 
confusion  ensued ;  but  the  archbishop  inspired  the 
Danes  with  courage,  persuading  them  that  a  flag,  with 
a  white  cross  interwoven  on  a  red  ground  (later  called 
Dannebrog),  which  the  Pope  had  sent,  had  fallen  down 
from  heaven ;  to  which  statement,  and  the  effect  pro- 
duced by  it,  the  successful  issue  of  the  battle,  and  the 
conquest  of  the  whole  of  Esthonia,  are  chiefly  to  be 
ascribed.  The  kingdom  of  Denmark  now  included 
Denmark,  Holstein,  Ditmarsh,  Lauenburg,  Schwerin, 
Mecklenburg,  Rygen,  Pomerania,  Esthonia,  Oesel  (an 
island  close  by  Russia),  and  several  tracts  of  Prussia 
and  Curland.     But  Waldemar  the  Conqueror  was  form* 


130  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

ing  still  more  gigantic  plans,  love  of  dominion  being 
the  chief  passion  of  his  heart,  when  one  disastrous 
night  annihilated  the  fruits  of  the  toils  of  three  kings 
and  of  the  victories  of  sixty  years.  Whilst  engagec1  in 
the  chase  on  a  little  island,  Lyd,  by  Fjunen,  the  king 
A.  d.,  and  his  son  fell  into  the  power  of  Count  Henry, 
1223-  of  Schwerin,  were  gagged,  put  on  boaru  a  ship 
and  carried  to  Grermany,  where  they  were  kept  prise 
ners  for  three  years  in  the  castle  of  Daneberg.  A 
general  confusion  arose,  the  princes  who  were  his  vas- 
sals revolted  from  him,  Hamburg  and  Liibeck  fell  away 
"and  became  free  cities,  establishing,  in  conjunction  with 
other  maritime  towns,  a  mighty  alliance,  called  the 
Hanseatic  League,  and  the  emperor,  Frederick  II.  of 
Hohenstaufen,  formerly  Waldemar's  confederate,  re- 
joiced now  at  seeing  his  disaster  and  calamity.  Under 
such  circumstances  Waldemar  had  to  subscribe  to  the 
hard  conditions  his  enemies  exacted  for  his  release. 
The  terms  were  severe,  but  were  the  best  that  could 
be  procured.  He  should  lay  down  to  Count  Henry 
forty-five  thousand  ounces  of  silver,  resign  Holstein  to 
Count  Adolph,  quit  his  other  German  and  Vendish 
possessions,  except  Esthonia  and  Rygen,  and  never 
make  war  again.  Promising  inviolably  to  observe  these 
a.  d  ,  severe  conditions,  he  came  back  to  his  kingdom 
1226-  on  Christmas-eve,  disconsolate  and  enraged,  but 
more  than  ever  beloved  by  his  subjects,  who  now  be« 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  131 

came  better  acquainted  with  the  sublimity  of  his  virtue  * 
by  this  trial  of  adversity. 

But  Waldemar's  patriotism,  swallowed  up  in  one 
great  ruling  affection,  the  love  of  his  country,  could  not 
allow  him  to  keep  his  promise.  He  applied  to  the  Pope? 
was  absolved  from  his  engagements,  made  preparations 
for  war,  raised  at  length  a  great  army,  and  entered 
Holstein,  with  all  the  resentment  of  a  prince  highly 
injured.  Multitudes  were  flocking  to  his  standard,  and 
in  the  beginning,  he  was  crowned  with  success.  But 
leading  his  army  back  from  Itzeho,  which  he  had  con- 
quered, he  was  met  by  the  bishop  of  Liibeck,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  the  duke  of 
Holstein,  the  Ditmarshers,  the  earls  of  Schwerin,  Olden- 
burg and  Mecklenburg,  at  the  head  of  a  prodigious 
army.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Bornhoved  in  a.  d., 
Holstein,  with  incredible  fury  on  both  sides  ;  but  1227- 
here  Waldemar  was  totally  defeated,  and  lost  one  eye. 
Being  very  much  blamed  for  the  perfidious  breaking  of 
his  promise,  he  answered  that  a  dispensation  given  him 
from  the  Pope,  Honorius  III.,  should  be  a  sufficient 
excuse.  After  this  transaction  the  kin^  had  the  soul- 
rending  misfortune  to  lose  his  eldest  son,  Waldemar, 
who  was  shot  accidentally  at  a  hunting-party,  and  from 
that  time  Waldemar  the  Conqueror  dropped  all  intention 
of  pursuing  revenge.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  if  Grod  con- 
tinues li**e  and  health,  I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  warfaring  life,  but  for  the  remainder  of  my  days 


232  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

employ  all  my  efforts  to  promote  the  internal  welfare  of 
my  kingdom."  And  so  he  did.  His  very  'first  care  was 
to  give  wise  and  "beneficial  laws,  amongst  which  were 
the  Skanish  and  the  Jutlandish  law,  which  he,  shortly 
before  his  death,  laid  before  the  people,  at  a  diet  in 
Vordingborg,  the  Jutlandish  law,  even  to  this  day, 
being  valid  in  Schleswig,  and  not  before  1685  abrogated 
in  Denmark. 

Waldemar  the  Conqueror  was  twice  married  :  first 
to  the  Bohemian  princess,  Dagmar,  and  next  to  Beren- 
garia, from  Portugal,  who  became  mother  to  Erik, 
Abel,  and  Christopher,  one  by  one  succeeding  to  the 
throne.  Dagmar  was  highly  beloved,  but  Berengaria 
much  hated  on  account  of  her  pride ;  and  it  became  a 
proverb  among  the  peasantry :  "  Blessed  be  Dagmar, 
cursed  be  Berengaria  the  old  hag,  the  Lord  be  with 
the  king."  Waldemar  had  now  attained  to  an  ad- 
vanced age.  He  had  seen  his  kingdom  raised  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  glory  and  power,  he  had  seen  it  sink 
a.  d.,  into  the  deepest  distress,  and  now  he  saw  it 
1241  •  again  restored  to  peace  and  felicity,  when  death 
claimed  him. 

The  means  by  which  the  inhabitants  got  their  liveli- 
hood in  this  period  were,  agriculture,  breeding  of  cattle, 
fishing  and  commerce,  but  all  as  yet  on  a  small  scale. 
The  fishing  was  an  important  means  of  subsistence,  and 
the  Lymfjord  and  Earsound  (Oeresund)  were  known  for 
their  abundant  herring  grounds.     The  trade  was  driven 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  133 

with  Northern  Grermany  and  England;  and  between 
Jutland  and  Norway  was  a  lively  intercourse.  Fish, 
cattle  and  horses  were  the  most  important  articles  of 
exportation.  The  most  ancient  coins  of  the  North  are 
from  the  time  of  Swen  Splitbeard.  Not  only  the  kings, 
but  also  the  bishops  were  permitted  to  coin. 

Learned  literature  was  cultivated  exclusively  by  the 
clergy.  Nevertheless  the  arts  of  poetry  passed  at  an 
early  period  into  the  hands  of  the  nobles,  chiefly  because 
love  (minne)  and  devotion  to  the  ladies  were  the  soul 
and  essence  of  the  latter.  In  general  they  were  called 
Minnesongers,  or  the  Nightingales  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
considering  the  whole  female  sex  as 'a  sacred  virgin. 
But  on  the  whole,  neither  science  nor  the  arts  had 
reached  a  very  high  point,  and  young  people  being 
desirous  of  a  deeper  knowledge  than  they  could  acquire 
at  home,  had  to  go  to  the  celebrated  University  of  Paris, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  a  special  college 
for  Danish  students  was  founded  in  Paris.  Here,  for 
instance,  Absalon  and  Andrew  Suneson  completed  their 
studies.  Absalon,  a  man  of  letters  himself,  favored 
learned  literature,  and  encouraged  the  renowned  Saxo 
Grammaticas  to  compose  a  history  of  Scandinavia, 
which  he  did,  in  elegant  Latin,  he,  therefore,  being  sur- 
named  Grrammaticus.  Cotemporaneously  with  Saxo, 
the  Icelandic  writer,  Snorre  Sturlason,  lived :  a  man  of 
rare  talents,  who  has  made  himself  famous  by  composing 
Heimskringla,  or  "  The  Sagas  of  the  Norwegian  Kings," 


134  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

down  to  Magnus  Erlingson,  A.  D.  1162:  a  work  that 
meritoriously  has  styled  him  the  "  Herodotus  of  Northern 
A  D  history."  At  the  age  of  sixty-three  this  eminent 
1241.  man  was  assassinated  by  his  own  relatives  on  his 
manor,  Reykiaholt,  in  Iceland.  The  celebrated  work 
called  the  Edda  (the  word  Edda  betokening  the  great- 
grandmother  of  poetry),  where  we  see,  amidst  many 
absurdities,  the  traces  of  a  luminous  and  rational  sys- 
tem of  religion,  and  which  therefore  long  was  con- 
sidered the  sacred  book  of  the  Scandinavians,  is  often 
ascribed  to  Snorre  Sturlason,  while  it  more  probably 
Avas  composed  by  Saemund,  a  clergyman  in  Iceland, 
who  died  A.  D.  1133.  The  whole  doctrines  of  the 
ancient  religion  and  mythology  are  unfolded  in  this 
celebrated  specimen  of  national  poetry. 

The  Edda  consists  of  two  parts  : — the  Younger  Edda 
in  prose,  and  the  Elder  Edda  in  verse.  The  Young  et 
Edda,  generally  ascribed  to  Snorre  Sturlason,  and 
called   Snorre  s   Edda,  consists   of  three   divisions : — 

1.  A   complete   synopsis   of  Scandinavian   mythology. 

2.  A  catalogue  of  deities  and  kings,  and  a  collection  of 
poetic  'expressions,  together  with  an  explanation ;  for 
instance:  the  wagons  of  the  waves  and  the  horses  of 
Neptune  are  ships ;  the  daughters  of  calamity  are 
arrows ;  the  hand  of  the  homicide  is  the  battle-axe ;  the 
lamp  of  the  face  and  the  diamond  of  the  head  is  the 
eye ;  the  ferocious  lion  who  attacks  houses  and  ships  is 
the  hurricane  ;  and  so  forth.  3.  A  treatise  on  poesy 
and  prosody,  and  an  account  of  the  Icelandic  art  of 
poetry. 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  135 

The  Elder  Edda,  called  the  Poetic,  consists  of  thirty- 
nine  poems,  collected  by  the  above-named  Saemund, 
most  probably  from  oral  tradition,  and  is  the  most 
ancient  work  in  the  old  Northern  language,  most  of  it 
being  written  before  the  discovery  of  Iceland.  The 
two  most  remarkable  poems  herein  are : — 1.  The  Vo~ 
luspa,  i.e.  the  song  or  foretelling  of  the  old  Northern 
prophetess  Vala.  This  is,  properly  speaking,  a  cos- 
mogonic  poem  describing  chaos,  the  creation  of  the 
world,  the  different  races  on  earth, — jetters  or  giants, 
men  and  dwarfs, — and  concluding  by  a  prophecy  of  the 
destruction  and  renovation  of  the  Universe,  and  by  a 
glowing  description  of  the  eternal  bliss  awaiting  the 
brave,  and  honest  in  Crimli, — the  highest  heaven, — 
and  of  the  eternal  misery  awaiting  murderers,  per- 
jurers, and  seducers,  in  Nastrond, — the  subterranean 
region  where  the  fire  is  never  quenched.  2.  The  Hava- 
mal,  an  ethic  poem,  signifying  the  song  or  speech  of 
the  sublime,  i.e.  Odin*.  It  contains  a  rather  complete 
code  of  moral  precepts,  as : — u  He  who  travels  stands 
in  need  of  wisdom ;  nothing  is  more  detrimental  to 
human  beings  than  drunkenness;  it  is  appointed  unto 
all  men  once  to  die:  one  thing  alone  never  dies,  and 
that  is  the  verdict  which  posterity  pronounces  upon  the 
dead;  praise  the  ice  when  once  you  have  crossed  it, 
and  the  liquor  after  it  is  drunk,"  &c. 

For  a  deeper  and  more  comprehensive  insight  into 
the  Eddaic  literature,  I  must  refer  the  inquisitive  reader 
to  the  celebrated  critical  productions  of  the  great  phi- 
lologers  and  antiquaries  of  Copenhagen,  Rask,  Pafn, 
and  P.  E.  Muller,  Jacob  G-rimm  of  Berlin,  and  to  the 
English  Bishop  Percy  s  excellent  translation  of  Mallet's 
Northern  Antiquities. 


SECOND    PERIOD. 


PROM  THE  DEATH  OF  WALDEMAR  THE  CONQUEROR,  AND  THE  BE- 
GINNING OF  THE  DISPUTES  ABOUT  SCHLESWIG,  UNTIL  THE 
INTRODUCTION    OF    THE   REFORMATION,    1241 — 1536. 


1241—1319. 

Erik  Ploughpenning — Expedition  to  Esthonia — Abel — Christopher  I. — Conflict 
with  the  Clergy — Archbishop  Jacob  Erlarftlson — Interdict — Erik  Glipping 
— Battle  on  Loheath — War  with  Norway — Erik  Menved — The  Regicides — 
John  Grand — Peace  with  Norway — Expedition  to  Pomerania  and  Meck- 
lenburg— The  Hanseatic  League. 

Erik,  later  sumamed  Ploughpenning,  some  years 
before  chosen  successor,  took  upon  him  the  title  of  king 
after  the  death  of  Waldemar  the  Conqueror,  his  father. 
A  great  error  ascribed  to  him  is  the  dividing  of  the 
kingdom  among  his  brothers:  Schleswigwasgivento^l&eZ, 
and  Laaland  and  Falster  to  Christopher.  This  division 
contributed  very  much  to  the  declension  of  the  king- 
dom, and  to  the  diminishing  of  the  royal  power;  and 
especially  in  reference  to  Schleswig,  this  system  of 
division  had  ruinous  consequences ;  for  Abel  and  his  sue- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  137 

cessors  tried  now  to  make  Schleswig  an  hereditary  and 
independent  possession  in  their  family,  all  of  which  re- 
sulted in  a  series  of  destructive  internal  wars,  Schleswig 
thereby  more  and  more  being  alienated  from  the  king- 
dom. Under  these  circumstances,  Abel  soon  assumed  a 
hostile  position  towards  Erik,  the  more  as  he  claimed  the 
Duchy  of  Schleswig  as  an  independent  sovereignty.  A 
A.  D„  war  broke  out,  in  which,  however,  the  king  got 
I249-  the  better,  Abel  being  obliged  to  submit.  Next 
year  a  Diet  was  held  in  Roeskilde,  in  which  the  king  ex- 
pressed his  eager  desire  to  reclaim  all  the  former  posses- 
sions of  Esthonia  and  Livonia,  which  had  been  lost  amidst 
the  late  civil  commotions.  The  Diet  giving  its  assent  to 
his  proposal  of  undertaking  an  expedition  thither,  he 
then  laid  before  them  the  necessity  of  raising  the  proper 
supplies  by  an  additional  tax  of  a  certain  sum  to  be  paid 
by  each  plough,  under  the  name  of  ploughpenning-,  by 
which  term  the  king  was  afterwards  surnamed.  After 
returning  from  Esthonia,  the  king  marched  his  army 
against  the  counts  of  Holstein,  who  had  laid  siege  to  the 
fortress  of  Rendsburg.  On  his  arrival  at  the  Danevirke, 
that  strong  wall  above  mentioned,  he  bethought  him  of 
a  visit  to  his  brother  Abel  in  Schleswig,  who  had  taken 
no  part  in  this  quarrel.  He  entered,  however,  into  an 
a.  D.,  altercation  with  Abel,  who  caused  the  king  to  be 
1250.  killed  in  a  boat,  and  his  body  thrown  into  the 
river  Sley.  Abel  endeavored  to  screen  his  shocking 
crime   by   promulgating   a   report,  that  the   king  had 


138  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

perished  in  the  river  by  the  boat's  foundering,  but 
shortly  after  all  was  discovered  by  the  mangled  body  of 
the  king,  which  was  thrown  by  the  waves  on  the  shore, 
and  taken  up  by  some  monks. 

Erik  Ploughpenning  falling  without  male  issue,  the 
states,  though  they  detested  Abel,  on  account  of  the 
unnatural  crime  he  had  committed,  chose  him  king  to 
avoid  a  civil  war,  which  would  certainly  have  ensued  on 
setting  him  aside.  By  these  means  they  also  indispu- 
tably re-united  the  duchy  of  Schleswig  to  the  crown. 
After  a  reign  of  two  years,  neither  active  nor  a.  d., 
useful,  he  was  killed  in  an  expedition  he  under-  1252- 
took  against  the  Friesers,  leaving  the  state  in  a  most 
declining  condition.  If  the  royalty  had  remained  in 
Abel's  family,  Schleswig  would  have  been  re-united 
with  the  kingdom,  and  all  future  contests  prevented ; 
but  Christopher  /.,  the  third  son  of  Waldemar  the  Con- 
queror, was  happy  enough  immediately  to  be  acknow- 
ledged king,  although  the  throne  was  promised  to  Abel's 
sons,  Waldemar  and  Erik.  Both  parties  exerted  all 
their  power. to  gain  the  ascendancy.  The  king  encom- 
passed Schleswig  with  his  army,  and  claimed,  as  uncle, 
the  guardianship  of  Abel's  children,  but  these  were  sup- 
ported by  the  counts  of  Holstein.  Seasonably  for  the 
king,  some  of  the  German  princes  offered  their  medi- 
ation, and  a  peace  was  concluded  on  these  terms :  that 
Christopher  should  have  the  guardianship,  but  restore 
the  duchy  of  Schleswig  as  a  fief  to  Waldemar,  the  eldest 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDL\AVIA.  139 

son  of  Abel,  when  he  had  attained  to  his  majority. 
About  the  same  time  Christopher  was  entangled  in  a 
sharp  contest  with  the  clergy.  The  imperious  Jacob 
Erlandson,  without  the  king's  consent  or  knowledge, 
was  chosen  archbishop  of  Lund.  Descended  from  a 
conspicuous  family,  and  very  well  versed  in  the 
ecclesiastical  laws,  he  was,  on  account  of  his  long  stay 
in  foreign  lands,  strictly  acquainted  with  the  condition 
of  the  Church  everywhere.  Secure  of  the  Pope's  pro- 
tection, he  not  only  disregarded  all  forms,  but  totally 
changed  the  ecclesiastical  laws  and  statutes  of  Skane, 
and  took  the  liberty,  of  his  own  accord,  to  substitute 
some  new  ones  of  his  own.  He  consecrated  other  bishops 
•without  asking  the  royal  consent,  brought  secular  affairs 
under  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  usurped  fines 
and  other  perquisites  belonging  only  to  the  king.  He 
forbade  the  peasantry  of  his  archbishopric  to  perform 
military  service ;  and  when  the  king  had  summoned  a 
diet  of  the  people  at  Nyborg,  the  archbishop,  as  a  mark 
A.  d.,  of  disrespect,  convoked  at  the  same  time  a  synod 
1256.  at  "Weile,  Jutland,  called  the  Weile  Constitution ; 
where  it  was  decided  that,  when  a  bishop  was  impri- 
soned, or  in  any  way  molested  by  the  king,  an  interdict 
should  be  laid  upon  the  kingdom,  and  all  divine  service 
cease.  Christopher  I.,  highly  incensed  at  this  haughty 
conduct,  would  now  confiscate  all  the  fiefs  formerly 
given  to  the  archbishopric  of  Lund,  but  a  violent  riot 
arose  amongst  the  archiepiscopal  peasants,  who  ravaged 


140  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  country  with  unheard-of  cruelty;  and  as  now  the 
archbishop  also  declined  crowning  Erik,  the  king's  son, 
and  threatened  to  ban  the  bishops  who  might  do  so,  the 
king  caused  him  to  be  imprisoned.  Agreeably  to  the 
resolution  of  the  synod  of  Weile,  the  whole  kingdom  was 
immediately  interdicted.  The  king  now  wrote  to  the 
Pope,  representing  to  him  the  haughty  conduct  of  the 
archbishop,  the  injustice  and  absurdity  of  a  prelate's 
assuming  to  himself  a  share  in  the  royal  prerogative, 
and  the  hardship,  that  he  should  have  it  in  his  power  to 
lay  a  whole  people  under  interdiction.  These  remon- 
strances were  no  sooner  dispatched  to  Rome,  than  the 
Pope  commanded  that  the  ban  should  be  intermitted, 
and  all  the  priests  within  the  kingdom  should  administer 
the  communion,  under  the  penalty  of  losing  their 
tithes  and  stipends.  At  the  same  time  the  king  fell  a 
victim  to  the  plot  of  a  canon  by  the  name  of  Arnfast, 
who  poisoned  him,  and  as  a  reward,  was  promoted 
by  the  rebellious  archbishop  to  the  bishopric  of  a.  d., 
Aarhuus,  in  Jutland.  Christopher  I.  had  found  l25d- 
the  treasury  exhausted  on  his  accession ;  at  his  death  he 
left  things  in  much  the  same  situation — the  treasury 
exhausted,  and  the  nation  split  into  two  powerful  fac- 
tions. In  the  doubt  and  dismay  which  followed  the 
death  of  Christopher  I.,  a  few  voices  saluted  his  son, 
Erik  Glipping,  with  the  title  of  king,  but  the  majority 
would  not  ratify  the  choice,  as  he  had  not  yet  attained 
to  full  age,  and  the  queen  dowager,  the  manly  Marga* 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  141 

rethe  of  Pomerania,  called  Sorte  Grethe  (Black  Grethe) 
on  account  of  her  dark  complexion,  had  to  assume  the 
reins  of  government.  She  commenced  her  guardianship 
with  a  signal  instance  of  clemency,  on  pardoning  the 
haughty  Jacoh  Erlandsen  ;  who,  nevertheless,  after 
being  set  at  liberty,  treacherously  joined  the  duke  of 
Schleswig,  avowing  his  intention  to  dethrone  the  king 
and  replace  the  duke.  Shortly  after  a  new  faction  arose, 
headed  by  count  Jarimar,  of  Rygen,  who,  gathering 
multitudes  of  robbers  and  murderers,  and  making  an 
inroad  into  Sjelland,  defeated,  at  Nestved  in  Sjelland, 
the  peasantry,  which  the  queen  dowager  had  raised, 
where  ten  thousand  peasants  lost  their  lives.  Thereupon 
Jarimar  went  to  Skane,  where  he,  fortunately  for  Den- 
mark, was  killed  by  a  country-woman.  The  country 
was  soon  after  alarmed  by  a  dangerous  irruption  of 
Erik,  a  son  of  Abel,  who,  because  the  queen  dowager 
would  not  comply  with  giving  him  Schleswig  as  an 
hereditary  fief,  but  only  as  a  personal,  joined  the  counts 
of  Holstein,  and  commenced  a  war,  in  which  the  royal 
a.  d.,  troops  were  totally  defeated  at  Loheath,  close  by 
1261-  the  city  of  Schleswig.  The  queen  dowager  and 
her  son,  the  minor  king,  were  taken  prisoners,  she  being 
sent  to  Hamburg,  and  he  closely  confined  on  Alsen,  an 
island  in  the  Baltic.  The  queen  dowager  was,  however, 
soon  released,  but  the  young  king  not  till  the  expiration 
of  three  years,  during  which  time  the  queen  dowager 
governed  the  kingdom,  assisted  by  the  duke  Albert  of 


142  HISTORY     OF     SCANlffNAVIA. 

Brunswick,  to  whom  the  prefectship  had  been  entrusted 
The  young  king,  now  past  minority,  was  scarcely  settled 
on  the  throne,  when  his  kingdom  was  again  alarmed  by 
the  rebellious  Jacob  Erlandson  rejecting  repeated  pro- 
posals of  agreement,  and  even  bidding  defiance  to  the 
commands  of  the  Pope ;  and  not  till  the  queen  dowager 
herself  determined  on  going  to  Rome,  was  a  reconcilia- 
tion made,  according  to  which  the  king  had  to  pay  the 
archbishop  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  ounces  of  a.  d., 
silver,  and  replace  him  in  his  ecclesiastical  dig-  1274- 
nitie**.  When  Jacob  Erlandson  was  returning  home 
from  Rome,  he  died  by  the  way  before  reaching  Den- 
mark, the  king  rejoicing  very  much  at  having  got  rid  of 
this  spiritual  tyrant.  But,  unfortunately,  the  king  had, 
both  within  his  own  land  and  abroad,  other  foes  not  less 
to  be  feared.  With  Magnus  Lagaboeter,  King  of  Nor- 
way, married  to  Ingeborg,  a  daughter  of  Erik  Plough- 
oenning,  a  dispute  arose,  Erik  (flipping,  in  the  con- 
fused condition  of  the  kingdom,  not  being  capable  of 
paying  the  dowry.  The  Norwegian  king  arriving  with 
a  great  fleet  in  Skane,  was,  however,  defeated  by  the 
Danish  army ;  but  under  the  sons  of  Magnus  a  destruc- 
tive war  commenced,  during  the  course  of  which  the 
defenceless  Danish  coasts  and  maritime  towns  were 
grievously  vexed  by  the  piracies  and  formidable  pillages 
of  the  Norwegians.  Nevertheless,  Erik  (xlipping  en- 
gaged  himself  in  the  civil  disturbances  of  Sweden,  where 
the  brothers   Waldemar  and   Magnus   Ladelaas  were 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  143 

disputing  for  the  throne  ;  but  he  reaped  neither  honor 
nor  profit  by  his  interference,  and  the  power  of  the  state 
began  to  decline.  Magnus  defeated  "Waldemar  at  Hove, 
A.  d.,  in  Westrigothland,  and  was  acknowledged  King 
1275-  of  Sweden,  the  agriculture  of  which  he  vigor- 
ously promoted ;  the  peasantry,  therefore,  surnaming 
him  Ladelaas,  i.  e.  the  protector  of  the  barns.  With 
these  disturbances  in  Sweden,  in  which  Erik  (flipping 
involved  himself,  came  a  war  with  Erik,  Duke  of 
Schleswig,  who  continued  to  sow  the  seeds  of  dissen- 
sion ;  but  the  king  entering  the  duchy  with  a  powerful 
army,  and  seizing  upon  the  fortress  of  Tonder,  which  he 
razed,  the  duke  was  constrained  to  submit,  and  lost  his 
duchy  a  short  time  before  his  death ;  after  which  Schles- 
wig, for  thirteen  years,  remained  united  with  the  king- 
dom, until  unfortunately  again  Waldemar,  called  Duke 
Waldemar  IY.,  a  son  of  Erik,  above  named,  was  invested 
with  Schleswig  as  a  fief.  But  not  content  with  it,  he 
now  also  laid  claim  to  Aro,  Alsen,  and  Femern,  three 
islands  in  the  Baltic.  He  fell,  however,  into  the  hands 
of  the  king,  had  humbly  to  throw  himself  at  his  feet, 
resign  his  claim,  and  make  a  confession  in  writing  of 
his  want  of  loyalty  to  his  sovereign.  Besides  these  in- 
cessant contests  and  disputes,  Erik  GHipping  was  fre- 
quently at  variance  with  the  noblemen,  because  of  his 
a.  d.,  violence  and  want  of  candor,  and  he  was,  at  a 
1282-  diet  of  Nyborg,  compelled  to  promise,  in  writing, 
to  rule  more  justly,  and  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 


144:  H1«T0RY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  state.  The  same  year  a  pestilential  disea.se  occur- 
red, "by  which  great  numbers  of  men  and  cattle  were 
swept  off;  terrible  fires  also  happened  in  different  parts 
of  the  kingdom ;  and,  to  crown  the  misfortunes  of  this 
year,  Margarethe,  the  queen  dowager,  died,  after  hav- 
ing, with  great  discretion  and  policy,  governed  the  king- 
dom and  her  son  for  the  space  of  twenty-three  years. 
Erik  Gripping  now  comforted  himself  with  the  pleasing 
hope  of  enjoying  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  tranquillity, 
but  his  subjects  growing  more  and  more  weary  of  him 
and  his  transgressing  the  limits  of  his  authority,  and 
disgusted  at  his  debauching  several  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  nobility,  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the  king, 
privy  to  which  were  James,  count  of  Halland,  and  Stig 
Anderson,  who  ran  him  through  the  body  with  a  sword 
He  fell  beneath  the  blow  at  Finderup,  by  Wi-  a.  d., 
borg,  in  Jutland,  where  he  was  diverting  himself  1286- 
with  hunting  for  a  few  days.  Thus,  in  less  than  fifty 
years,  four  Danish  kings  were  dispatched  by  assassi- 
nation. 

These  events  having  occurred,  the  situation  of  the 
kingdom  became  yet  more  gloomy,  Erik  Menved. 
likewise  surnamed  the  Pious,  being  only  twelve  years 
of  age  at  his  father's  death.  In  want  of  a  leader,  the 
affairs  of  government  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  queen- 
dowager,  Agnes  of  Brandenburg,  whose  respectable 
qualities  were  universally  esteemed.  Being,  however, 
without   that   firmness  of    mind    which   perseveres   in 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  145 

difficult  times  and  cases,  she  imprudently  made  duke 
Waldemar  IY.  of  Schleswig,  joint  guardian,  even  re- 
signing to  him  the  disputed  islands,  Aro,  Alsen,  and 
Femern,  so  that  he  acquired  a  power  in  the  state  which 
properly  belonged  to  better  men.  A  formal  sentence  of 
death  was  pronounced  against  the  regicides,  who,  escap- 
ing to  Norway,  appealed  to  the  king,  Erik  Prcestehader 
(i.  e.,  the  hater  of  the  priests),  to  whom  they  swore 
allegiance,  and  received  from  him  the  fortress  of  Kongs- 
hel,  strong  by  nature  and  art.  Besides  that,  they 
brought  into  their  occupancy  several  fortified  places  of 
the  Danish  coasts  and  islands,  whence  they,  for  a  space 
of  nine  years,  ravaged  their  native  country  with  fire  and 
sword,  breathing  vengeance  wherever  they  went,  and 
seeming  to  threaten  to  depopulate  the  kingdom  by  a 
continual  drain  of  its  forces.  One  of  the  conspirators,, 
however,  was,  some  years  after,  taken  in  Roeskilder 
and  broken  upon  the  wheel.  About  the  same  time  a 
new  contest  with  the  clergy  ensued.  John  Grand,  a 
kinsman  of  Jacob  Erlandson,  and  related  to  the  regi- 
cides, had  been  appointed  archbishop  of  Lund,  although 
highly  against  the  consent  of  the  king  and  the  queen- 
dowager.  No  sooner  had  he  reached  this  dignity,  than 
he  joined  the  regicides  and  the  Norwegians,  doing  all 
within  his  power  to  injure  the  king  and  blast  his 
credit.  But  at  last  the  king  caused  him  to  be  appre- 
hended and  imprisoned  in  Sdborg,  a  castle  in  North 
Sjelland,  where  he  was  placed  in  a  subterranean  dun* 


146  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

geon  and  treated  with  the  utmost  severity.  He  was, 
however,  fortunate  enough  to  escape  to  Bornholm,  a 
remote  island  in  the  Baltic,  from  whence  he  repaired  to 
Rome,  to  appeal  to  the  Pope  himself,  at  that  time 
the  imperious  and  domineering  Bonifacius  VIII.  By 
his  coloring  the  facts,  he  incensed  his  Holiness  violently 
against  the  king,  and  was  acquitted  of  all  guilt,  while 
a  penalty  of  forty-nine  thousand  ounces  of  silver  was 
inflicted  upon  the  king,  which  he,  however,  decidedly 
declined  paying.  Erik  Menved,  rightly  imagining  the 
Pope  had  been  deceived  by  a  false  representation  of  the 
nature  of  the  dispute,  remitted  to  Rome  an  appeal, 
and  heavy  complaints  of  the  archbishop.  But  without 
avail.  The  whole  kingdom  was,  by  the  papal  a.  d., 
legate,  Isarnus,  laid  under  a  new  interdict  of  1298- 
five  years.  After  a  lapse  of  some  years  the  king,  in 
order  to  be  reconciled  with  the  Pope,  sent  a  most  suppli- 
cating letter,  entreating  that  he  would  be  pleased  to 
remove  the  heavy  curse,  and  receive  himself  and  his  sub- 
jects again  into  the  bosom  of  the  church.  His  Holiness 
granted  the  request;  the  interdict  was  taken  off,  the 
payment  of  forty-nine  thousand  ounces  of  silver  reduced 
to  ten  thousand,  and  John  Grand  was  transferred  to  an 
archbishopric  in  France. 

The  duke  of  Schleswig,  Waldemar  IV.,  sided  for  a 
while  with  Norway  and  the  regicides,  but  being  totally 
defeated  in  Greensound,  he  was  obliged  to  conclude 
peace,  and  give  back  Ard,  Alsen  and  Femern       With 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  147 

A.  d,   Norway,  the  long  war  was  finished  by  the  treaty 

1309.  0f  Copenhagen,  "by  which  the  province  of  Hal- 
land  was  ceded  to  the  Norwegian  king,  Hakon  V.,  and 
made  over  to  him  in  perpetuity.  But  it  was  only  a 
short  time  that  Denmark'  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  peace, 
which  were  soon  interrupted  by  her  restless  Swedish 
neighbors.  The  dukes  Waldemar  and  Erik,  brothers  to 
Birger,  king  of  Sweden,  occasioned  great  disturbances. 
Erik,  a  crafty  and  ambitious  young  prince,  who,  on 
account  of  his  being,  married  to  Ingeborg,  a  daughter 
of  Hakon  V.,  had  expectations  of  ascending  the  throne 
of  Norway,  was  anxious  to  dethrone  Birger,  and  thus 
also  become  king  of  Sweden.  Erik  Menved,  the  Danish 
king,  married  to  a  sister  of  king  Birger,  took  part  in  the 
Swedish  disturbances,  and  made  several  expensive  expe- 
ditions to  Sweden,  to  defend  his  brother-in-law  and 
preserve  to  him  his  throne.  The  rebellious  dukes  had 
surprised  Birger  in 'his  castle  Hatuna,  and  imprisoned 
him.  Erik  Menved  raised  an  army,  and  led  his  troops 
to  the  frontiers  of  West  Gothland,  where  he  was  met 
by  the  enemy.     Both  armies  encamped  within  sight  of 

a.  d.,  each  other  for  some  days,  and  at  length  a  peace 

1310.  was  agreed  to,  in  Helsingborg,  in  consequence 
of  which  king  Birger  was  restored  to  a  part  of  his 
dominions,  and  the  dukep  received  the  remainder,  on 
oath  of  fidelity  and  homage,  as  vassals  of  the  crown. 
But  Birger,  breathing  vengeance,  invited  his  brothers  to 
a   drinking-bout   in    Nykdping.     After   having  treated 


1-18  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

them  with  magnificence,  he  suddenly  ordered  a.  d., 
his  people  to  break  into  their  apartments  while  1317- 
they  were  asleep,  to  seize  them,  to  strip  them,  and  fetter 
their  necks  and  heels  with  iron  chains.  They  were 
thrown  into  a  dark  dungeon,  where  they  died  of  hunger 
But  a  sedition  now  arose  against  Birger,  who  had  to 
flee  from  his  kingdom,  and  died  a  fugitive  in  Denmark. 
To  regain  the  great  territories  in  Germany  which 
Waldemar  I.  and  Waldemar  the  Conqueror  had  con- 
quered, was  a  favorite  thought  of  Erik  Menved ;  where- 
fore he,  through  a  series  of  years,  made  frequent  expe- 
ditions to  bring  the  cities  and  princes  of  Pomerania  and 
Mecklenburg  under  subjection,  but  without  avail. 
Towards  the  close  of  his  reign,  he  had  a  new  dispute 
with  the  clergy,  in  which,  however,  he  got  the  better, 
the  rebellious  archbishop  of  Lund,  Esger  Juel,  being 
compelled  to  refrain  from  war  and  leave  the  country 
But  soon  the  kingdom  was  distracted  with  internal 
dissensions,  which  had  broken  out  amongst  the  stirring 
noblemen,  who  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the  king's 
life,  and  caused  a  great  insurrection  in  North  Jutland 
where  the  people  refused  payment  of  the  taxes  imposed 
by  the  king  and  the  diet,  of  which  Christopher,  the 
king's  own  brother,  dishonoring  himself  by  treacherous 
connections  with  the  insurgents,  was  the  ringleader. 
Not  being  capable  of  realizing  what  he  had  expected, 
he  went  over  to  Sweden,  where  he  lived  in  exile  till  the 
vear  131S/  A.  D.     Upon  his  death-bed  the  king  wished, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  149 

however,  to  be  reconciled  to  his  brother,  and  accordingly 
granted  him  a  free  pardon,  without  stipulating  any 
terms.  Though  having  fourteen  children  by  his  queen, 
A.  d.,  Ingeborg,  Erik  Menved  died  childless,  after  a 
1319.  reign  of  thirty-three  years,  leaving  his  kingdom 
in  a  most  declining  condition,  on  account  of  the  many 
external  and  internal  wars,  and  of  the  general  abandon- 
ment of  all  the  virtues  by  which,  under  the  two  great 
Waldemars,  it  had  risen  to  power  and  greatness.  To 
procure  money  to  defray  the  charges  of  these  wars,  a 
great  deal  of  the  royal  fiefs  and  other  revenues  had  been 
mortgaged  to  native  and  foreign  magnates,  by  all  of 
which  the  kingdom  had  become  weakened.  Contempo- 
raneously with  this,  a  mighty  league  was  formed  in  the 
northern  part  of  Germany,  called  the  German  League 
of  the  Hanse-towns,  which,  in  process  of  time,  became 
extremely  dangerous  to  the  northern  countries.  It  arose 
in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  several 
seaport  towns  joined  together  to  defend  their  mercantile 
neutrality.  By  degrees  this  league  increased  its  mili- 
tary resources,  and  after  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century  it  comes  clearly  into  view  as  a  domineering 
policy  in  the  North,  acquiring  a  great  superiority  in  the 
Baltic,  and  gaining  a  permanent  footing  in  Denmark, 
Norway,  Sweden,  and  Russia,  where  the  league,  com- 
prising the  important  commercial  cities,  Hamburg, 
Liibeck,  Bremen,  Rostock,  Wismar, .  Stralsund,  and 
Novgorod,   mastered   all  mercantile  affairs;   and  theij 


150  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

power  increased  so  rapidly,  that  five  hundred  men-of 
war  could  soon  be  mustered  from  these  cities  ;  and  the 
imprudent  Danish  kings,  Abel,  Erik  Gripping  and  Erik 
Menved,  during  whose  internal  and  external  wars  the 
star  of  the  League  was  in  the  ascendant,  had  often  to 
have  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  the  Hanseatic  towns, 
which  understood  how  to  fish  in  foul  water.  Upon  the 
whole,  the  superiority  of  the  Hanse-league  was  the 
chief  cause  that  Denmark's  cities  and  burgher  class 
in  the  Middle  Ages  never  rose  to  any  power  or  impor- 
tance, the  German  merchants  importing  almost  al) 
articles  manufactured. 


II. 

1319—1397. 


Christopher  II. — Charter — War  with  Geert,  Count  of  Holstein — Battle  on  Tap- 
heath — Niels  Ebbeson — Waldemar  IV.,  Atterdag — Insurrection  in  Jutland 
— Magnus  Smek  of  Sweden — War  with  the  Hanseatic-towns — Rebellion — 
Waldemar  leaves  the  country — Olaf—  Queen  Margarethe  (the  Semiramis 
of  the  North)— King  Albrecht  of  Sweden— The  Battle  at  Falkoping— -  The 
Union  of  Calmar. 

Upon  the  death  ol  Erik  Menved,  Christopher  77,  his 
brother,  was  elected  and  declared  king,  although  Erik, 
even  while  lying  in  his  last  gasp,  had,  knowing  by  ex- 
perience his  brother's  mean  and  base  disposition,  tried 
to  dissuade  the  people  from  electing  him.  His  reign 
was  miserable,  the  lower  orders  of  the  State  being  by 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  I5i 

his  corruption  and  inability  reduced  to  a  degree  of  hope- 
less subjection,  while  he  entrusted  the  rich  noblemen 
with  uncontrollable  power,  which  he  had  no  strength  to 
withdraw  from  them  when  danger  was  coming.  Before 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  had  to  subscribe  to  a  very- 
severe  charter,  containing,  in  substance,  that  the  clergy 
should  be  preserved  in  the  full  possession  of  all  their 
earlier  privileges  and  immunities ;  that  a  clergyman 
should,  on  no  account,  be  tried  in  a  civil  court,  but  be 
subject  only  to  the  laws  of  the  ecclesiastical  court ;  that 
the  king  should  not  be  permitted  to  declare  war  or  con- 
clude peace  except  by  consent  of  the  nobility  and  the 
clergy  ;  that  the  noblemen  should  not  be  obliged  to 
serve  in  the  wars  beyond  the  frontiers  of  the  kingdom, 
and  that  an  annual  diet  should  be  held  at  Nyborg.  On 
the  whole,  tne  power  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy 
attained  to  such  a  height  as  never  before  or  after  him. 
The  king  and  the  archbishop,  Esger  Juel,  came,  through 
the  papal  mediation,  to  an  agreement,  and  from  that 
very  time  matters  assumed  a  better  aspect  between  the 
kings  and  the  church,  because  the  clergy,  in  fear  of  the 
increasing  power  of  the  nobility,  began  to  attach  them- 
selves closer  to  the  kings.  Although  Christopher  II. 
had  promised  the  nobility,  under  the  sanctity  of  an 
oath,  that  he  would  inviolably  keep  the  charter  to  which 
he  had  subscribed,  he  did  not  do  so,  but  gave  a  finishing 
stroke  to  his  wickedness  and  absurdity  by  saying,  that 
he  did  not  consider  the  bi caking  of  an  oath  of  any  con- 


152  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

sequence.  Several  powerful  noblemen,  therefore,  the 
bailiff  Lauritz  Jonsen,  the  field-marshal  Louis  Albert* 
son,  and  Canute  Porse,  Duke  of  Halland,  flew  imme- 
diately to  arms,  and  when  the  king  soon  after  entered 
into  a  dispute  with  Count  Geert  (Gerhard)  the  Great, 
of  Holstein,  concerning  the  guardianship  over  the  young 
Duke  of  Schleswig,  Waldemar  V.,  the  displeased  noble- 
men joined  Count  Geert,  who  raised  a  body  of  forces  in 
Holstein,  gave  battle  to  the  king  at  Gottorp,  defeated 
him,  and  raised  the  siege.  Christopher  now  levied,  in 
spite  of  his  charter,  a  tax  upon  his  subjects,  by  renew- 
ing the  ploughpenning.  To  this  was  added  another 
piece  of  misconduct,  which  enraged  the  clergy.  Ho 
made  some  alterations  in  a  monastery,  without  con- 
sulting the  bishops,  who  began  to  fulminate  threats,  and 
the  king  was  accused  of  intending  to  trample  on  the 
neck  of  liberty.  The  nobles  exclaimed  that  he  aimed 
at  the  ruin  of  the  nobility,  and  the  people  murmured  at 
the  weight  of  taxes,  and  especially  at  the  ploughpenning, 
the  most  grievous  of  all  taxes,  because  it  fell  wholly  on 
the  poor  laborers.  Discontent  appeared  in  every  quarter, 
and  a  confederacy  was  formed  to  depose  Christopher, 
who,  finding  himself  unequal  in  strength  to  his  subjects, 
fled  to  Mechlenburg,  after  which  he  was  unanimously 
divested  of  his  royalty,  and  the  young  Duke  a.d., 
Waldemar  elected  king  under  the  guardianship  1326- 
of  Count  Geert.  But  a  charter  was  now  issued  in  which 
it  was  decreed  that  as  long  as  the  king  was  alive,  his 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  153 

successor  could  not  be  elected,  nor  any  certain  promise  be 
given  of  the  succession  to  the  throne.  The  friends  of  the 
new  king  were  richly  rewarded.  He  made  over  to  Count 
Greert  the  whole  Duchy  of  Schleswig,  to  be  held  as  a 
fief  of  the  crown  ;  to  Canute,  Porse,  Halland,  Samso, 
and  the  earldom  of  Kallundborg ;  to  John,  a  half-brother 
of  the  deposed  Christopher,  Laaland  and  Falster ;  and 
Louis  Albertson  and  Lauritz  Jonson  were  likewise  re- 
warded. Thus  a  general  peace  was  concluded,  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  people,  who  now  expected  an 
end  to  all  their  calamities.  Nevertheless,  a  dispute  soon 
arising  among  them  about  this  division,  Christopher  IT. 
came,  by  the  aid  of  his  half-brother,  back  again  to  his 
a.d.,   kingdom,  and  an  agreement  was  concluded  at 

1330.  Ripen,  according  to  which  Waldemar  again 
should  have  Schleswig,  and  Count  Greert,  as  an  equiva- 
lent, have  Fjunen  as  a  hereditary  fief,  together  with  a 
great  part  of  Jutland  ;  and  if  "Waldemar  should  die 
without  leaving  inheritors  behind  him,  then  Schleswig 
should  devolve  to  Count  Greert,  and  Fjunen  to  Den- 
mark. John,  who  had  assisted  the  king  in  regaining 
his  kingdom,  was  rewarded  with  Sjelland  (Zealand) 
and  Skane.     A  new  contest,  in  which  Christopher  im- 

A.  D.,   prudently  involved  himself  with    Count  Greert, 

1331.  was  ended  by  a  decisive  defeat  of  the  royal 
troops  on  Loheath,  in  Schleswig.  The  battle  continued 
for  a  whole  day.  Greert  was  near  being  worsted,  but 
finding  means  to  bribe  the    king's  troops,  he  soon  re- 


154  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

trieved  his  affairs,  and  gained  a  complete  victory,  the 
king  escaping  from  the  field  with  great  difficulty. 
Next  year  proved  fatal  to  the  liberty  and  life  of  Chris- 
topher, for,  going  to  the  island  of  Laaland  with  a  small 
retinue,  he  was  seized  by  John  Ellemose,  a  friend  ot 
Count  Greert,  and  carried  prisoner  to  the  strong  castle 
of  Aalholm,  close  by  the  city  of  Nysted.  The  king  was, 
however,  again  set  at  liberty,  but  did  not  live  a.  d. 
long  to  enjoy  his  freedom.  He  fell  ill,  and  died  1334- 
in  a  few  days,  and  was  buried  in  Soro,  in  Sjelland,  at 
his  death  owning  only  the  city  of  Skanderborg,  in  Jut- 
land, a  piece  of  Laaland,  and  a  few  possessions  in 
Esthonia ;  the  kingdom  having  thus  sunk  into  nothing. 
A  greater  complication  of  folly  and  inability  than  there 
was  about  Christopher  II.,  no  Danish  king  has  been 
possessed  of,  wherefore  the  account  of  his  death  pro- 
duced the  greatest  jubilation.  Pont  anus  says,  that  he 
was  so  much  hated,  that  his  memory  was  stigmatized 
with  bitter  lampoons. 

Upon  the  death  of  Christopher  II.,  an  interregnum 
of  seven  years  ensued.  Erik,  the  eldest  son  of  Chris- 
topher, had  been  mortally  wounded  on  Loheath ;  Otho, 
the  next  but  one,  attempting  to  regain  his  ancestral 
kingdom,  was  defeated  and  captured  on  Tapheath,  by 
Wiborg  ;  and  Waldemar,  the  youngest  son,  sojourned  at 
the  court  of  Louis  of  Bavaria.  The  cruel  (xeert,  pres- 
sing and  impoverishing  the  inhabitants,  now  disposed  of 
the  country  at  pleasure.     Skane,  Halland  and  BleAiny 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA  15£ 

shook  oft'  his  cruel  yoke,  and  submitted  themselves  to 
Magnus  Smek,  at  that  time  king  of  Sweden  and 
Norway.  A  complete  annihilation  of  the  Danish  king- 
dom seemed  to  be  unavoidable,  the  more  as  Geert 
enrolled  an  army  of  ten  thousand  Grerman  soldiers,  and 
ravaged  the  whole  of  Jutland  with  the  utmost  cruelty, 
sparing  neither  women  nor  tender  children.  But  the 
Jutlanders  were  not  inclined  to  submit  to  a  tyrant  upon 
whom  they  already  had  long  looked  with  the  greatest 
aversion,  and  at  the  head  of  them  a  knight,  Niels 
Ebbeson  of  Norreriis,  rose  and  became  the  deliverer  of 
his  fatherland.  Instead  of  yielding  to  despondency  he 
employed  his  hours  of  retirement  to  revolve  in  his  mind 
what  was  to  be  done.  After  debating  some  time  with 
himself,  he  rose  and  called  together  several  of  his  most 
esteemed  countrymen.  He  told  them  that  all  now 
depended  on  their  own  exertions.  If  they  yielded  to 
the  cruel  Greert,  they  had  nothing  to  expect  but  to  be 
treated  tyrannically.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  they 
acted  with  vigor  and  union,  their  numbers  and  courage 
were  still  sufficient  to  rescue  them  from  this  scourge  of 
oppression.  They  willingly  adopted  the  suggestions 
of  the  noble  knight,  who  wrote  a  letter  to  Greert,  in 
which  Niels  Ebbeson's  plan  was  communicated  to  him. 
Thus  says  the  letter  :  "  To  Count  Greert :  Sir,  I  hereby 
swear,  by  Grod,  in  whom  I  believe,  but  you  do  not, 
thou  blood-thirsty  tyrant,  that  wheresoever  and  whenso- 
over  I  can  get  hold  of  you,  be  it  either  at  midnight  m 


156  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

at  cock-crowing,  either  at  your  table  or  in  your  princely 
bedchamber,  or  even  at  the  foot  of  the  holy  altar,  you 
shall  fall  by  my  hand.  Your  sworn  and  mortal  enemy, 
Niels  Ebbeson." 

Collecting  a  body  of  sixty  trusty  retainers,  he  left  his 
manor  for  Randers,  in  Jutland,  where  Greert  had  fixed 
his  head-quarters,  seized  the  sentinels,  and  pushed  on 
to  Geert's  lodging,  which  he  forced  open.  Greert  was 
awakened  with  the  noise,  and  seeing  Niels  Ebbeson 
enter  with  armed  men,  began  to  supplicate  him,  in  the 
most  humble  terms,  to  save  his  life.  But  considering 
the  life  of  the  tyrant  a  just  atonement  for  the  cruelties 
the  people  had  suffered,  he  plunged  his  sword  a.  d., 
into  his  breast,  and  then  made  his  retreat  with  134°- 
all  possible  expedition,  after  having  given  the  alarm  to 
the  whole  army,  by  sounding  horns  and  beating  drums. 

The  notice  of  the  death  of  the  tyrant  was  followed  by 
a  general  acclamation.  But  the  brave  and  fearless 
deliverer  of  his  fatherland  soon  after  lost  his  life  by 
Skanderborg  in  Jutland,  in  a  battle  against  Greert's 
sons,  who  would  avenge  the  death  of  their  father.  But 
Niels  Ebbeson  has  never  lost  the  grateful  memory  of 
the  Danes,  who,  in  a  charming  forest,  close  by  his 
manor-seat,  have  erected  a  marble  column,  on  which  an 
inscription,  with  Spartan  brevity,  tells  his  patriotic 
exploit ;  and  yearly,  in  the  summer-season,  the  citizens 
of  Aarhus,  and  the  scholars  of  the  Latin  school,  take  a 
walk  to  Ndrreriis,  where,  by  spirited  songs,  they  call 


HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA.  157 

back   to   their    minds,    his   magnanimous   and    heroic 
deed. 

Greert  having  been  killed,  the  way  to  the  throne  was 
a.  D.,  paved  for  Christopher's  third  son,  Waldemar 
1341.  iy  Atterdag-,  who  was  recalled  from  Bavaria. 
To  Waldemar's  elevation  the  emperor  Louis,  at  whose 
court  Waldemar  was  bred,  greatly  contributed.  His 
elder  brother  Otho,  having  renounced  his  claims  to  the 
throne,  "Waldemar  received  the  homage  in  Wiborg. 
Uniting  great  vigor  with  the  most  refined  policy,  hu- 
manity and  affability,  he  conciliated  good  will  on  all 
sides,  and  came  into  possession  of  a  popularity,  which 
gave  him  means  more  powerful  than  arms  for  the  future 
improvement  and  extension  of  his  kingdom.  His  vigi- 
lance was  equal  to  his  valor,  and  he  quickly  made 
himself  master  of  Jutland,  Sjelland,  Fjunen,  Laaland 
and  Falster ;  and  the  Danish  dominions,  so  lately  divided 
among  a  number  of  petty  tyrants,  were  now  again 
united  into  one  sovereignty.  For  a  number  of  years,  as 
we  have  seen,  Denmark  had  been  the  theatre  of  con- 
tinual domestic  and  foreign  wars,  which  filled  every 
place  with  confusion.  One  of  the  most  powerful  king- 
doms, after  having  given  laws  to  such  a  number  of 
other  nations,  had  at  length  fallen  under  the  scourge  of 
some  petty  vassals,  who  laid  desolate  her  fairest  pro- 
vinces. But  now  she  again  began  to  taste  the  sweets  oi 
liberty  and  resume  her  old  influence.  Waldemar  IY.  sold 
immediately  the  remote  Esthonia  to  the  Teutonic  Order 


158  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

(a  confraternity  of  German  knights,  instituted  by  Pope 
Ceiestin  III.,  A.  D.  1192,)  for  nineteen  thousand  ounces 
of  silver,  to  be  enabled  to  redeem  more  important 
provinces ;  and  by  marrying  Hedevig,  a  sister  to  the 
duke  "Waldemar  V.,  of  Schleswig,  who  brought  him  a 
considerable  dowry,  he  acquired  great  wealth.  The 
most  considerable  enemies  he  conquered  were  the  inva- 
ders of  his  frontier,  or  the  internal  disturbers  of  his 
kingdom,  and,  on  the  whole,  he  only  made  war  to 
secure  peace.  The  Jutlandish  nobility,  accustomed  to 
disobedience  to  the  laws,  headed  by  Clans  Limbek, 
raised  a  rebellion,  and  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
counts  of  Holstein,  and  other  enemies  of  the  kingdom, 
but  the  powerful  "Waldemar  compelled  them  to  comply 
with  his  dictates.  Among  all  the  exertions  of  his  active 
life,  he  was  also  very  attentive  to  the  improvement  of 
the  internal  welfare  of  his  kingdom.  He  frequently 
traveled  round  to  have  an  eye  upon  the  execution  of 
the  laws,  he  settled  the  civil  concerns,  which  were  in  a 
boundless  chaos,  he  erected  castles  and  fortresses,  he 
laid  out  highways,  and  caused  canals  to  be  dug,  and 
to  his  people,  who,  under  such  circumstances,  were 
obliged  to  pay  high  taxes,  he  gave  a  detailed  account  of 
the  spending  of  the  taxes  he  had  levied. 

At  this  time  Magnus  Smek  was  king  of  Sweden ;  of 
whose   improvidence  and    stupidity  Waldemar   availed 
himself  to  regain  the  Swedish  provinces,  Skane,   a.  d., 
Halland,    and    Bleking,   thus   encompassing  his    136°- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  159 

great  aim — the  re-union  of  the  Danish  kingdom.  A 
marriage  was  also  agreed  upon  between  Hakon  VI . 
king  of  Norway,  and  a  son  of  Magnus  Smek,  and  Mar- 
gar  ethe,  a  daughter  of  Waldemar  ;  a  basis  thereby  being 
laid  for  a  continual  union  of  Norway  with  Denmark. 
Next  year  Waldemar  seized  upon  the  Swedish  island, 
Gulland  (Gothland),  the  capital  of  which,  "Wisby,  then 
one  of  the  richest  and  most  flourishing  Hanse  towns, 
he  demolished,  assuming  now  the  title,  "Ring  of  the 
Goths.1''  But,  upon  the  taking  of  the  great  island  of 
Grulland,  a  mighty  alliance  arose  against  Waldemar 
Atterdag,  between  Magnus  Smek,  the  counts  of  Hol- 
stein,  and  the  Hanseatic  towns,  (which  are  said  to  have 
sent  him  at  once  seventy-seven  declarations  of  war,)  and 
Albrecht  the  elder,  of  Mecklenburg.  Matters  being  thus 
disposed,  the  allies  put  to  sea,  attacked  Copenhagen, 
took  the  citadel,  and  plundered  the  city.  But  Walde- 
mar rushed  fearlessly  on  his  many  enemies,  attacked 
the  squadron  of  Liibeck,  took  six  ships,  burned  several 
a.d.,  others,  and  forced  the  Hanseatic  towns  and  his 
1362-  other  enemies  to  raise  the  siege.  The  regency  of 
Liibeck  were  so  incensed  at  their  defeat,  that,  accusing 
the  admiral  of  neglect  of  duty,  they  ordered  his  head  to 
be  struck  off.  A  peace  was  concluded  between  the 
king  and  the  Hanse  towns,  Waldemar  thus  reaping  the 
harvest  of  glory,  and  gaining  the  great  honor  of  having 
put  a  prompt  end  to  this  dangerous  war. 

We  have  seen  that  the  king  of  Norway,  Hakon  VI., 


160  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

was  contracted  to  the   princess   Margarethe.     Yet,   to 
oblige  the  Swedish  nation,  who  insisted  on  his  renoun- 
cing the  alliance  with  Denmark,  he  consented  to  marry 
Elizabeth^  a  princess  of  Holstein,  instead  of  Waldemar's 
daughter.     Every  circumstance  seemed  favorable  to  the 
conclusion  of  this  alliance,  as  both  the  Swedes  and  Hol- 
steiners  were   equally  desirous   of  it.     She   was   now 
embarked  on  the  Trave,  to  pass  over  to  Sweden ;  but 
Heaven  disposed  events  otherwise.     Boisterous  weather 
drove  the  ship  on  the  coast  of  Denmark.     Waldemar 
Atterdag  received  the  princess  with  all  the  honors  due 
to  her  rank,  but  still  he  kept  her  under  a  gentle  con- 
straint, in  the  meantime  hurrying  Magnus  Smek  and 
Hakon  YI.  to  come  to  Denmark,  where  then,  by  con- 
sent of  the  foolish  Swedish  king,  the  nuptials  between 
Margarethe  and  the  Norwegian  king  were  cele-   a.  d., 
brated.     But  this  affair  deprived  Magnus  Smek    13G3- 
of  his  throne,   the   people    electing    in   his   stead    his 
nephew,  Albrecht,  duke  of  Mecklenburg.     Nevertheless 
Magnus    resolved    to    make    vigorous    efforts   for   the 
recovery  of  his  throne.    Having  received  aid  from  Walde- 
mar and  his  son,  Hakon  YI.  of  Norway,  he  took  the  field, 
gave  battle,  but  was  defeated  at  Tillinge,  near  a.  d., 
Jonkoping,    and    conducted    prisoner    to    Stock-    1365- 
holm,  where  he  was  confined  for  seven  years,  till  he  at 
length  was  delivered  by  his  son,  Hakon.    Upon  the  whole 
the  cunning  Waldemar  bore  up  well  against  his   a.  d  , 
many   enemies,    until   the    Jutlandish    nobility,    1368 


HISTORY    OP    SCANDINAVIA.  161 

headed  by  Glaus  Limbek,  excited  a  fresh  rebel! inn,  join- 
ing Henry \  duke  of  Schleswig,  the  counts  of  Holstein, 
the  Hanse  towns,  Sweden  and  Mecklenburg,  who  all 
had  concluded  a  formidable  alliance  against  him.  At 
the  sight  of  such  a  league  Waldemar's  courage  forsook 
him.  Finding  himself  unable  to  resist  this  cloud  of 
enemies,  he  determined  to  abandon  all.  He  left  his 
kingdom  for  four  years,  after  having  previously 
appointed  the  sagacious  Henning  Podebusk  viceroy — ■ 
a.  D.,  who  was  happy  enough  to  prevail  with  the  Hanse 
1370.  towns  to  conclude  the  peace  of  Stralsund,  after 
which  the  other  enemies  broke  off  all  hostilities.  By 
this  peace  it  was  decided  that  the  Hanseatic  towns 
should,  for  fifteen  years,  possess  the  maritime  towns  of 
Skane,  and  enjoy  special  commercial  privileges  over  the 
whole  of  Denmark. 
A.  D.,  Upon  his  returning  home  Waldemar  found  his 
1372  kingdom  in  the  greatest  confusion,  but  this  un- 
tiring king  signalized  himself  by  a  successful  and  active 
endeavor  to  re-establish  order,  strengthen  the  enervated 
country,  and  infuse  into  the  souls  of  his  subjects  a  por- 
tion of  that  spirit  of  independence  and  patriotism  of 
which  he  was  possessed  himself.  Henry,  duke  of  Schles- 
wig, being  childless,  there  was  a  good  prospect  of  again 
getting  this  duchy  re-united  with  the  kingdom ;  upon 
which  important  point  Waldemar,  in  his  last  days, 
directed  all  his  attention;  but,  unfortunately,  he  only 
survived   Henry   so  short   a  time,   that  the    question 


162  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

whether  Sohleswig  should  belong  to  Denmark  or  be 
yielded  to  the  counts  of  Holstein  (who,  pursuant  to  the 
treaty  of  Ripen,  1330,  laid  claim  to  it,)  could  not  be 
decided,  but  was  deferred  to  the  following  reign.  During 
the  thirty-four  years  he  wore  his  crown,  he  devoted 
himself  to  reform  all  abuses,  and  to  revive  the  whole- 
some laws  of  the  country.  He  increased  the  publio 
revenues,  and  applied  them  to  the  adorning  of  the  cities 
with  public  buildings,  while  at  the  same  time  he  con- 
demned the  expenditure  of  the  public  money  for  mere 
show.  He  also  paid  particular  attention  to  the  com- 
forts of  the  poorer  citizens,  and  took  care  that  they 
should  be  maintained  at  the  public  cost.  Altogether,  he 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  superior  to  the  time  in  which 
he  lived.  He  had  built  a  beautiful  country  seat  in  tho 
neighborhood  of  Elsinore,  called  Gurre,  and  a.  d., 
there  he  breathed  his  last.  From  the  time  of  1375- 
his  return  from  abroad,  he  was  constantly  afflicted  with 
the  gout ;  recourse  was  had  to  a  variety  of  medicines, 
but  without  effect. 

His  death  was  greatly  lamented.  He  had  shown  him- 
self a  brave,  active,  and  just  ruler,  and  in  private  inter- 
course he  was  always  cheerful,  jovial,  and  often  witty. 
A  nobleman  by  the  name  of  Calf — his  intimate  friend 
■ — the  king  presented  with  the  castle  of  Ripen,  in  Jutland. 
But  Calf  proved  faithless,  and  allied  himself  to  the  Count 
of  Holstein,  who,  delighted  with  Calf  s  conduct,  made 
him  a  present  of  two  strong   castles.     However,  Calf 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  163 

soon  after  felt  the  stings  of  conscience,  repented  of  his 
perfidy,  surrendered  himself  with  his  three  castles  to 
the  king,  and  took  again  the  oath  of  allegiance.  On  re- 
ceiving the  intelligence  of  this,  Waldemar  exclaimed: 
"  This  calf  is,  indeed,  worth  breeding ;  he  went  away  a 
calf,  but  has  returned  a  cow  with  two  calves." 

Before  leaving  Waldemar  IV.,  (surnamed  Atterdag, 
because  he  used  to  say,  when  a  misfortune  happened, 
"  To-morrow  it  is  again  day,")  it  may  be  observed,  that 
under  his  reign  an  enemy  more  destructive  than  war 
visited  both  Denmark  and  Norway.  This  was  a  fright- 
ful disease,  called  the  Black  Death,  (den  Sorte  Dod,) 
because  people,  before  they  died,  broke  out  with  black 
freckles  over  the  whole  body.  The  plague  is  supposed 
to  have  originated  in  Asia  Minor,  and  to  have  been 
transmitted  from  Constantinople  to  the  European  coun- 
tries. It  raged  in  Denmark  with  the  most  destructive 
effect,  taking  off  a  great  deal  of  the  population,  and  the 
mortality  was  increased  by  the  crowded  and  comfortless 
manner  in  which  the  people  at  that  time  lived.  The 
plague  spread  so  violently  and  so  rapidly,  that  physi- 
cians were  of  no  use.  In  Liibeck,  for  instance,  there 
died  in  one  day  to  the  number  of  1,500.  There  might 
be  seen  in  one  place  wretches  lying  in  the  streets  in 
the  agonies  of  death,  deserted  by  their  nearest  friends 
through  fear  of  infection,  or  crawling  to  the  brink  ol 
some  stream  or  fountain,  in  the  vain  hope  of  quenching 
the  intolerable  thirst  with  which  they  were  parched. 
3y  a  ship  going  adrift  this  horrible  disease  came,  A.  D. 


164 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


1349,  to  Bergen,  Norway,  whence  it  spread  round  in 
the  country,  nearly  dispeopled  Norway,  annihilated 
all  industry,  and  enervated  everything  irreparably.  But 
it  should  be  mentioned  here,  that  "Waldemar,  during  the 
whole  time  of  the  plague,  regardless  of  his  own  safety, 
was  only  anxious  to  lessen  its  increase  and  spreading 
abroad,  by  unremitting  and  judicious  exertions. 

Waldemar  Atterdag  left  no  male  issue,  but  his  two 
grandsons,  Albrecht  the  Younger,  of  Mecklenburg,  a  son 
of  Ingeborg,  "Waldemar's  eldest  daughter,  and  of  Henry 
of  Mecklenburg,  and  Olaf,  a  son  of  Margarethe,  his 
younger  daughter,  and  of  Hakon  YL,  of  Norway,  were 
now  claiming  the  hereditary  succession  to  the  throne. 
One  party  declared  for  Olaf,  but  as  he  was  the  son 
of  the  younger  daughter,  his  right  was  consequently 
very  doubtful.  But  because  the  house  of  Mecklenburg 
had  acted  hostilely  towards  Denmark,  and  Olaf  had 
expectation  of  Norway  and  claims  to  the  crown  of 
Sweden,  as  a  grandson  of  Magnus  Smek,  Denmark  was, 
by  his  'election,  in  hopes  of  one  day  seeing  the  three 
crowns  united  on  the  same  head.  It  was,  therefore, 
not  long  before  this  important  affair  was  determined. 
The  preference  was  given  Olaf,  who,  although  only  six 
years  of  age,  was,  under  the  name  of  Olaf  F.,  a.  d., 
elected  king  of  Denmark,  under  the  guardian-  1376- 
ship  of  Margarethe,  his  mother ;  and  after  the  death 
of  his  father,  Hakon  VI.,  he  became  also  king  a.  d., 
of  Norway,  the  two  kingdoms  thus  being  united :   im 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  165 

a  union  which,  till  the  expiration  of  four  hundred  and 
thirty-four   years,    was   not  dissolved.     "When  Olaf   V. 
seven  years  after  died  in  Falsterbo,  both  king-   a.  p., 
doms  elected  Margarethe  their  queen,  though    1387- 
custom  had  not  yet  authorized  the  election  of  a  female 

During  the  reign  of  this  great  princess,  who  de- 
servedly has  been  called  the  Semiramis  of  the  North, 
Denmark  and  Norway  exercised  an  influence  in  Eu- 
rope, the  effects  of  which  long  vibrated  throughout  the 
Scandinavian  countries,  their  vast  extent  and  rival  races. 
Uniting  wisdom  and  policy  with  courage  and  determi- 
nation, having  strength  of  mind  to  preserve  her  recti- 
tude of  character  without  deviation,  and  her  efforts 
being  crowned  by  Divine  Providence  with  success,  she 
is  duly  considered  one  of  the  most  illustrious  female 
rulers  in  history,  her  renown  reaching  even  the  By- 
zantine emperor  Emanuel  Palseologus,  who  called  her 
"  Regina  sine  exemplo  maxima."  But  under  her  suc- 
cessors, destitute  of  her  high  sense  of  duty,  great  ability 
and  consistent  virtue,  her  triumphs  proved  a  snare 
instead  of  a  blessing;  the  great  Union  she  created 
lissolved  in  a  short  time,  and  its  downfall  was  as  sud- 
den as  its  elevation  had  been  extraordinary.  She  was 
born  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1353.  Her  father  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  "Waldemar  Atterdag,  her  mother 
A.D.,   queen  Hedevig,  and  she  became,  queen  of  Den- 

1387-  mark  and  Norway  in  the  year  1387.  No  sooner 
elected  queen  of  Denmark,  and  homaged  on  the  hill  of 
Sliparehog,  near  Lund,  in  Ringsted.  Odensee  and  Wi- 


166  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

borg,  than  she  sailed  to  Norway  to  receive  its  homage 
But  a  remarkable  occurrence  is  mentioned  by  historians 
to  have  occurred  about  this  time.  A  report  prevailed 
that  king  Olaf,  the  queen's  son,  was  not  dead ;  it  was 
propagated  by  the  nobility,  and  very  likely  set  on  foot 
by  them,  in  order  to  punish  Margarethe  for  her  liberality 
to  the  clergy.  The  impostor  claimed  the  crown  of  Den- 
mark and  Norway,  and  gained  credit  every  day  by 
making  discoveries  which  could  only  be  known  to  Olai 
and  his  mother.  Margarethe,  however,  proved  him  to 
be  a  son  of  the  nurse  of  Olaf,  who  had  a  large  wart 
between  his  shoulders,  which  mark  did  not  appear  on 
the  impostor.  In  fine,  the  false  Olaf  was  seized,  broken 
on  the  wheel,  and  publicly  burnt  at  a  place  between 
Falsterbo  and  Skanor,  in  Sweden,  and  Margarethe  con- 
tinued uninterruptedly  her  regency. 

But  the  queen  not  wishing  to  contract  a  new  mar- 
riage, and  comprehending  the  importance  of  getting  a 
successor  elected  to  the  throne,  proposed  her  nephew. 
Erik,  Duke  of  Pomerania,  of  which  proposal  a.d., 
the  clergy  and  nobility  approved  by  electing  him  1388- 
king  of  Denmark  and  Norway  after  Margarethe's  death. 
Meanwhile  Albrecht,  king  of  Sweden,  having,  on  ac- 
count of  his  preference  given  to  his  German  favorites, 
incurred  the  hatred  of  his  people,  the  Swedes  requested 
Margarethe  to  assist  them  against  him,  which  she 
promised,  if  they  in  return  would  promise  to  make  her 
queen  of  Sweden.  Moreover,  Albrecht  had  highly  of- 
fended the  Danish  queen ;  had,  though  hardly  able  to 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  167 

govern  his  own  kingdom,  assumed  the  title,  "  King  of 
Denmark,"  and  laid  claim  to  Norway  too ;  and  when 
she  blamed  him  for  it  he  had  answered  her  disdainfully 
In  a  letter  he  had  used  foul  and  abusive  language, 
calling  her  "  a  king  without  breeches,"  and  the  "  abbot's 
concubine"  (abbedfrillen),  on  account  of  her  particular 
attachment  to  a  certain  abbot  of  Soro,  who  was  her 
Kpiritual  director.  It  is,  however,  true,  that  her  inti- 
macy with  this  monk  gave  room  for  some  suspicion 
that  her  privacies  with  him  were  not  all  employed 
about  the  care  of  her  soul.  Afterwards,  to  ridicule 
her  yet  more,  king  Albrecht  sent  her  a  hone  to  sharpen 
her  needles,  and  swore  not  to  put  on  his  night-cap 
until  she  had  yielded  to  him.  But  under  perilous  cir- 
cumstances Margarethe  was  never  at  a  loss  how  to  act. 
She  acted  here  with  the  utmost  prudence,  trying  first  to 
gain  the  favor  of  the  peers  of  the  state,  and  solemnly 
promising  to  rule  according  to  the  Swedish*laws.  The 
war  now  broke  out  between  Albrecht  and  Margarethe, 
whose  army  was  commanded  by  Jvar  Lykke.  .  The  en- 
A.  D.,  counter  of  the  two  armies,  about  12,000  men  on 
1388-  each  side,  took  place  at  Falkoping,  21st  of  Sep- 
tember, 1388.  A  furious  battle  was  fought,  in  which  the 
victory  for  a  long  while  hung  in  suspense.  But  Marga- 
rethe's  good  fortune  prevailed:  Albrecht  was  routed  and 
his  army  cut  in  pieces,  and  Margarethe  was  now  also 
mistress  of  Sweden. 

While  this  was  passing,  the  queen  tarried  in  AYord- 
ingborg,   Sjelland,  longing  with  ardent  desire  to  learn 


168  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  result.  But  no  sooner  hearing  that  the  victory  was 
gained,  and  the  Swedish  king  and  his  son,  Erik,  taken 
prisoners,  than  she  hastened  to  Bahus,  in  Sweden,  where 
the  king  and  his  son  were  brought  before  her.  Lost  in 
joy  and  amazement  at  having  her  enemy  in  her  power, 
the  queen  now  retorted  upon  king  Albrecht  by  uttering 
some  reviling  and  sarcastic  expressions,  and  in  causing 
a  large  night-cap  of  paper,  nineteen  yards  long,  to 
be  put  on  him ;  a  retaliation  proportioned  to  his  offen- 
sive words.  He  and  his  son  were,  thereupon,  brought 
to  Lindholm,  a  castle  in  Skane,  where  they  were  kept 
prisoners  for  seven  years.  On  entering  the  castle,  a 
dark,  square-shaped  room  was  assigned  them,  and  when 
the  king  said,  "  I  hope  that  this  torture  against  a 
crowned  head  will  only  last  a  few  days,"  the  jailor 
replied  :  "  I  grieve  to  say  that  the  queen's  orders  are 
to  the  contrary ;  anger  not  the  queen  by  any  bravado, 
else  you  \f  ill  be  placed  in  the  irons,  and  if  these  fail, 
we  can  have  recourse  to  sharper  means."  To  the  ex- 
cessive self-love,  intemperance,  conceitedness,  and  want 
of  foresight,  which  had  characterized  all  his  actions,  the 
unhappy  Albrecht  had  to  ascribe  his  being  here. 

The  year  following,  the  queen  stormed  the  important 
city  of  Calmar,  yet  siding  with  the  imprisoned   a.  d., 
king,    and   made    several    wise   alliances   with    1392- 
Richard   IT.,    of   England,   and    other    potentates,   and 
concluded  a  truce  for  two  years  with   the    princes   of 
Mecklenburg,   and  the  cities  of  Rostock  and  Wismar, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


169 


which  had  "begun  to  raise  fresh  levies  in  favor  of  the 
unfortunate  Albrecht.  This  period  expired,  she  laid 
siege  to  Stockholm  and  other  fortified  places,  of  which 
John,  -Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  and  other  friends  of  the 
imprisoned  king  had  become  masters.  But  the  cause  of 
Albrecht  was  but  little  forwarded,  and  his  opponent, 
Margarethe,  gained  .ground  every  day.  She  compelled 
the  capital  to  surrender  to  her  and  do  homage  to  her  as 
its  sovereign,  whereafter  a  peremptory  peace  was  a.  d., 
concluded  on  (rood  Friday,  which  restored  tran-  1395- 
quility  to  the  three  kingdoms.  The  imprisoned  king 
and  his  son  were  delivered  up  to  the  Hanseatic  towns, 
aud  they  obtained  their  liberty  for  sixty  thousand  ounces 
of  silver,  upon  condition  that  they  should  resign  all 
claims  to  Sweden,  if  said  amount  were  not  paid  within 
three  years.  As  soon  as  the  king  and  his  son  were 
delivered  to  the  deputies,  they  solemnly  swore  to  a 
strict  observance  of  this  article,  the  Hanse-towns  en- 
gaging themselves  to  guarantee  the  treaty.  The  money, 
however,  not  being  paid  by  the  stipulated  time,  Mar- 
garethe became  an  undisputed  sovereign  of  Sweden, 
the  third  Scandinavian  kingdom. 

About  this  time  the  Victuals-brethren,  called  so  be- 
cause they,  from  the  Hanse-towns,  brought  victuals  to 
Stockholm  while  besieged,  began  to  imperil  Denmark, 
plundering  the  Danish  and  Norwegian  coasts,  and 
destroying  all  commercial  business  along  the  Baltic. 
But  Margarethe,  always  able  to  act  properly  in  unex 


170 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


pected  difficulties,  ordered  the  harbors  of  the  maritime 
towns  to  be  blocked  up,  thus  putting  a  quick  stop  to 
their  cruelties  and  piracies.  The  queen's  principal  care 
was  now  to  visit  the  different  provinces,  to  administer 
justice  and  redress  grievances  of  every  kind.  Among 
other  salutary  regulations,  the  affairs  of  commerce  were 
not  forgotten.  It  was,  for  instance,  decreed  that  all 
manner  of  assistance  should  be  given  to  foreign  mer- 
chants and  sailors,  particularly  in  case  of  misfortune 
and  shipwreck,  without  expectation  of  reward ;  and  that 
pirates  should  be  treated  with  the  greatest  rigor,  in 
order  to  deter  them  from  that  dishonorable  profession. 

Erik  of  Pomerania,  was,  as  we  have  shown,  elected 
king  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  after  Margarethe's  death  ; 
but  also  wishing  to  have  him  elected  her  successor  to 
the  Swedish  throne,  she  brought  this,  her  nephew 
and  foster-son,  to  Sweden,  and  introduced  him  to  the 
deputies,  one  by  one,  whom  she  requested  to  confirm 
his  election  to  the  succession.  The  majesty  of  the 
queen's  person,  the  strength  of  her  arguments,  and  the 
sweetness  of  her  eloquence,  gained  over  the  a.  d., 
deputies,  who,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1396,  elected  1396- 
him  at  Morastone,  by  Upsala,  to  succeed  her  also  in 
Sweden.  But  Margarethe,  soon  discovering  his  inability 
and  impetuousness,  took  pains  to  remedy,  as  much  as 
possible,  this  evil,  by  procuring  him  as  a  wife,  the  intel- 
ligent and  virtuous  princess  Philippa,  a  daughter  of 
Henry  Y.  of  England  ;  and  shortly  after  she  got  Catha- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  171 

rine,  her  niece  and  Erik's  sister,  marred  to  Prinea 
John,  a  son  of  the  German  emperor,  Kaprecht,  John 
being  promised  to  assume  the  Scandinavian  crowns  if 
Erik  of  Pomerania  should  die  childless.  Thus  having 
strengthened  and  consolidated  her  power  by  the  way  of 
influential  connections  and  relationships,  the  queen, 
upon  whose  head  the  three  northern  crowns  were  actu 
ally  united,  now  proceeded  to  realize  the  great  plan  she 
already  had  long  cherished :  to  get  a  fundamental  law 
established  for  a  perpetual  union  of  the  three  large 
Scandinavian  kingdoms — the  realization  of  which  has 
immortalized  her,  and  secured  for  her  admiration  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world  and  of  the  most  thorough  historians, 
who  do  not  hesitate  to  surname  her  "  the  Great,"  and 
to  compare  her  with  the  great  Greek  and  Roman  heroes 
Union  of  Caimar,  and  statesmen.  On  the  17th  of  June, 
A.  D.,  1397.  1397,  Margarethe  summoned  to  an  as- 
sembly in  Caimar,  in  the  province  Smaland  of  Sweden, 
the  clergy  and  the  nobility  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and 
Sweden,  and  established,  by  their  aid  and  consent,  a 
fundamental  law.  This  was  the  law  so  celebrated  in 
the  North  under  the  name  of  the  Union  of  Caimar, 
which  afterwards  gave  birth  to  wars  between  Sweden 
and  Denmark  that  lasted  a  whole  century.  It  con- 
sisted of  three  articles.  The  first  provided,  that  the 
three  kingdoms  should,  thenceforward,  have  but  one 
and  the  same  king,  who  was  to  be  chosen  successively 
by  each  of  the  kingdoms.     The  second  article  consisted 


172  wrnwt   of   Scandinavia 

of  the  obligation  upon  the  sovereign  to  divide  his  time 
equally  in  the  three  kingdoms.  The  third,  and  most 
important,  was,  that  each  kingdom  should  retain  its 
own  laws,  customs,  senate,  and  privileges  of  every  kind ; 
that  the  highest  officers  should  be  taken  of  the  natives ; 
that  an  alliance  being  concluded  with  foreign  poten- 
tates should  be  obligatory  upon  all  three  kingdoms, 
when  approved  of  by  the  council  of  one  kingdom  ;  and 
that,  after  the  death  of  the  king,  his  eldest  son,  or  if  he 
died  childless,  then  another  wise,  intelligent,  and  able 
prince,  should  be  chosen  common  monarch ;  and  if  any 
one,  because  of  high-treason,  was  banished  from  one 
kingdom,  then  he  should  be  banished  from  them  all. 
A  month  after,  on  the  queen's  birth-day  (13th  of  July), 
a  legitimate  charter  was  drawn  up,  to  which  the  queen 
subscribed  and  put  her  seal ;  on  which  occasion  Erik  of 
Pomerania  was  anointed  and  crowned  by  the  arch- 
bishops of  Upsala  and  Lund  as  king  of  Denmark, 
Norway,  and  Sweden.  Te  Deum  was  sung  in  the 
churches  of  Calmar,  the  assembly  crying  out :  "  Hcecce 
unio  esto  perpetual  Longe,  longe,  longe,  vivai  Mar- 
garethe,  regina  Danice,  Norvegice  et  Svecice!" 

This  strict  union  of  the  three  large  states  became  a 
potent  bulwark  for  their  security,  and  made  them,  in 
more  than  one  century,  the  arbiter  of  the  European 
system ;  the  three  nations  of  the  northern  peninsula 
presenting  a  compact  and  united  front,  that  could  bid 
defiance  to  any  foreign  aggression. 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  173 

III. 

1397—1448. 

Queen  Margarethe — Attempts  to  regain  Schleswig — Erik  of  Pomerama — Dia> 
pute  about  Schleswig — War  with  the  Hanseatic  Towns — Rebellion  in 
Sweden — Engelbrechtson — Charles  Canutson — Dethronement  of  the  King 
in  Denmark  and  Sweden — Christopher  of  Bavaria  acknowledged  King 
of  all  three  Kingdoms — Rebellion  of  the  Peasantry — The  House  of 
Oldenburg. 

Although  Erik  of  Pomerania  was  elected  king,  and 
in  the  year  1407  past  minority,  Margarethe  continued 
governing  until  the  day  of  her  death.  "  You  have  done 
all  well,"  wrote  the  people  to  her,  "  and  we  value  your 
services  so  highly,  that  we  would  gladly  grant  you 
every  thing."  The  union  of  the  three  Scandinavian 
kingdoms  having  been  established  in  Calmar,  all  her 
efforts  now  aimed  at  regaining  the  duchy  of  Schleswig, 
a.  D.,  which  circumstances  had  compelled  her  to  resign 
1404-  to  G-erhard  IV.,  Count  of  Holstein.  For  such  a 
reunion  with  Schleswig  a  favorable  opportunity  ap- 
peared, when  Gerhard  was  killed  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Ditmarshers,  leaving  behind  three  sons  in 
minority.  Elizabeth,  Gerhard's  widow,  fled  to  Marga- 
rethe, for  succor  against  her  violent  brother-in-law, 
Bishop  Henry  of  Osnabriick.  Margarethe,  fond  of  fishing 
in  foul  water,  was  very  willing  to  help  her,  but  availed 
herself  of  the  opportunity  to  annex,  successively,  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Schleswig. 

The  dethroned  Swedish  king,  Albrecht,  never  able  to 


174  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

forget  his  anger  with  Margarethe,  or  her  severity  against 
him,  and  continually  cherishing  a  hope  of  re-ascending 
the  Swedish  throne,  and  considering  the  Union  of  Cal- 
mar  a  hreach  of  peace,  contrived  to  make  the  Swedish 
people  displeased  with  her,  and  thought  it  a  suitable 
time  to  revolt  from  her  dominion.  He  established  a 
strong  camp  before  Visby,  the  capital  of  the  island  of 
Grulland,  having  six  thousand  foot  and,  at  some  distance, 
nine  thousand  horse.  Determined  to  engage  before  this 
junction  could  take  place,  the  queen's  commander-in- 
chief,  Abraham  Broder,  immediately  advanced  until  in 
sight  of  the  enemy,  and  then  endeavored  to  gain  pos- 
session of  Yisby  and  the  ground  near  by.  In  this  he 
was  so  far  successful,  that  Albrecht  and  his  army  had  to 
leave  the  camp,  and  conclude  a  truce.  But,  neverthe- 
less, he  did  not,  till  after  a  lapse  of  seven  years,  give  up 
his  hope  of  remounting  the  throne  of  Sweden,  a.  d., 
making  a  final  peace  with  Margarethe,  and  hence-  H05- 
forward  living  in  Gadebush,  Mecklenburg,  where  he,  in 
the  year  1412,  closed  his  inglorious  life.  Soon  a.  d., 
after  (27th  of  October)  queen  Margarethe  died  on  uu- 
board  a  ship  in  the  harbor  of  Flensburg,  fifty-nine  years 
of  age,  and  after  an  active  and  notable  reign  of  thirty- 
seven  years.  Her  funeral  was  performed  with  the 
greatest  solemnity,  and  her  corpse  was  brought  to  the 
cathedral  of  Roeskilde,  where  Erik  of  Pomerania,  her 
successor,  in  the  year  1423,  caused  her  likeness  to  be 
carved  in  alabaster.     Her    acts    show    her    character: 


HISTuRY    OF     SCANDINAVU.  175 

judiciousness,  united  with  circumspection,  wisdom  in 
devising  plans,  and  perseverance  in  executing  them ; 
skill  in  gaining  the  confidence  of  the  clergy  and  pea- 
santry, to  have  a  weight  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the 
imperious  nobility.  On  the  whole,  she  applied  herself 
to  the  civilization  of  her  three  kingdoms,  and  their 
improvement  by  the  enactment  of  excellent  laws,  the 
great  aim  of  which  was  to  undermine  the  nobility.  She 
pursued  the  plan  of  her  great  father,  to  recall  all  rights 
to  the  crown-lands,  which,  during  the  reign  of  her  weak 
and  inefficient  predecessors,  had  been  granted  the 
nobility.  The  prosecution  of  this  plan  for  the  perfect 
subversion  of  the  feudal  aristocracy  was  unfortunately 
interrupted  by  her  death ;  her  imprudent  and  weak  suc- 
cessor having  no  power  to  restrain  the  turbulent  spirit 
of  a  factious  nobility.  Previous,  however,  to  giving  an 
account  of  his  rule  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  states,  it 
is  necessary  to  take  a  connected  view  of  the  reign  at 
large  of  this  mean  and  base  monarch. 

Erik  of  Pomeranians  inability  in  ruling  the  three 
Northern  kingdoms,  now  appeared  more  and  more  dis- 
tinctly ;  for  during  the  reign  of  Margarethe,  all  his  under- 
takings were  mostly  under  her  guidance.  He  possessed 
no  vigor  of  mind,  no  bold  and  enterprising  spirit,  and 
was  never  guided  by  prudence.  The  three  sons  of  the 
duke  Gerhard  IV.  took  advantage  of  his  inability,  endea- 
voring to  withdraw  themselves  from  his  yoke,  and  to 
be  enfeoffed  with  the  duchy  of  Schleswig.     At  a  Diet  of 


176 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


Nyborg  the  king  cited  the  young  dukes,  and  open-  a.  d., 
ed  the  assembly  himself  with  a  full  explanation  of  U13- 
the  circumstances  of  the  dispute.  When  he  had  finished 
his  speech,  the  archbishop,  in  a  fulminating  harangue, 
declared,  that  the  duchess-dowager,  Elizabeth,  and  her 
brother-in-law,  Henry  of  Osnabruck,  as  tutors  and  coun- 
selors to  Gerhard's  children,  had  forfeited  all  right  to  the 
duchy  of  Schleswig,  in  consequence  of  having,  before 
Margarethe's  death,  taken  arms  against  their  lawful 
sovereign,  and  that  Schleswig  should,  therefore,  be  an- 
nexed to  the  crown  of  Denmark.  Scarce  had  the  arch- 
bishop pronounced  this  sentence,  when  the  eldest  son  of 
the  deceased  duke,  Gerhard,  threw  himself  at  the  king's 
feet,  and  besought  him  to  grant  the  investiture  of  the 
duchy  as  a  fief ;  but  the  king  replied  in  the  negative 
The  three  young  dukes  now  began  to  concert  measures 
for  shaking  off  his  yoke ;  and,  although  Erik  of  Pome- 
rania  had  the  military  power  of  three  large  kingdoms  at 
command,  and  marched  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand 
men  against  them,  he  was  defeated  near  Immer-  a.  d., 
vad,  in  Schleswig,  with  great  loss,  insomuch  that  U2L 
his  flight  became  a  proverb  :  "At  Immervad  the  Danef 
were  driven  to  the  devil."  Although  this  defeat  did  not 
terminate  the  war,  it  produced  a  truce,  in  order  to  settle 
preliminaries  for  a  peace.  Arbitrators  were  chosen,  and 
the  whole  affair  of  the  duchy  of  Schleswig  was  again 
canvassed.  Nevertheless,  the  young  dukes  embraced 
every  occasion  of  frustrating  the  intention  of  the  truce, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  177 

ana  chose  to  decide  the  difference  by  the  sword  Erik 
Perceived  their  aim,  and  equipped  a  fleet  with  the  design 
to  invade  the  island  of  Alsen.  Here  he  met  with  no 
success ;  the  admiral,  Tvar  Brusk,  died  on  board,  and  a 
hurricane  dispersed  and  shattered  the  whole  fleet.  Erik 
now  took  the  course  of  appealing  to  the  G-erman  empe- 
A.  D.,  ror,   Sigismund,  and  repaired  to   Of  en  (Buda), 

1424.  where  the  emperor  then  resided.  Construing  the 
appeal  in  favor  of  the  king,  Sigismund  declared,  that  all 
Schleswig  should  henceforward  be  annexed  in  full  right 
to  the  crown  of  Denmark,  and  that  the  dukes  Henry, 
Adolphus,  and  Gerhard,  had,  by  their  conduct,  divested 
themselves  of  their  right  to  Schleswig.     The  king,  now 

a.  d.,  believing  the  whole  to  be  settled,  resolved  upon  a 

1425.  pilgrimage  to  Palestine.  But,  after  returning,  he 
found  the  ancient  leaven  of  contest  revived  and  violently 
fermenting  in  the  breasts  of  the  dukes,  who,  making 
alliance  with  the  Hanse-towns,  continued  the  war ;  and 
though  king  Erik  collected  all  his  strength  to  oppose 
them,  and  even  gained*  a  complete  victory  over  the 
Hanse  fleet,  yet  at  last  they  overmatched  him,  and 
weakened  the  kingdoms  by  horrible  ravages.  However,, 
their  attempts  to  seize  upon  Copenhagen  failed  ;  the 
city  being  saved  by  the  bravery  and  intelligent  pre- 
parations of  his  queen,  Philippa,  of  England.  At  length 
the  unlucky  war  with  the  dukes  was  ended  by  the  treaty 

A.  D.,   of  Wordingborg,  by  which  Adolphus,  the  only 
1435.    one  yet  alive,  should  enjoy,  during  his  life,  the 


178  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

duchy  jf  Schleswig,  except  the  city  of  Haderslev  and 
the  island  of  Aro,  and  his  heirs,  for  two  years  after  his 
decease ;  Denmark  thus  again  "being  dispossessed  of 
Schleswig.  Some  disturbances  in  Sweden  had  accele- 
rated the  peace  of  Wordingborg.  Sweden,  from  the  very 
beginning  displeased  with  the  Union  of  Calmar,  was 
embroiled  in  commotions,  which  chiefly  proceeded  from 
the  mean  policy  of  the  king  in  bestowing  his  offices  of 
trust  on  foreigners,  in  usurping  the  rights  and  preroga- 
tives of  the  Swedish  people,  and  from  disproportional 
taxes.  Encouraged  by  the  weakness  of  their  sovereign, 
they  resolved  to  attempt  a  change  in  the  government, 
and  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  the  hand  of  Erik,  whom 
they  generally  nicknamed  "the  Pomeranian  knave." 
The  circumstance  which  caused  the  first  operations  ol 
the  Swedes  towards  the  recovery  of  their  lawful  privi- 
leges, was  the  tyrannical  oppression  exercised  by  Jens 
Erikson,  the  royal  bailiff,  in  the  province  of  Dalecarlia. 
A  mountaineer  and  miner,  Engelbrecht  Engelbrechtson, 
accused  the  bailiff  before  the  king.  The  officer  was  de- 
posed, but  Engelbrechtson  had  spoken  with  such  ardor 
and  bluntness,  that  the  king  forbade  him  his  presence, 
and  ordered  him  to  leave  Denmark  "That  I  will," 
replied  Engelbrechtson,  "but  to  return  in  a  different 
manner."  The  Dalecarlians,  ever  watchful  of  their 
liberties,  resolved  to  throw  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and 
to  die  like  free  men,  rather  than  live  like  slaves  under 
the  lash  of  Erik's  tyranny ;  and  the  disturbances  were 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


179 


carried  on,  headed  by  Engelbrechtson,  whom  Erik  Puke, 
an  influential  nobleman,  had  joined.  It  went  so  far  that 
A.D.,  Engelbrechtson  forced  the  Senate  to  send  the 
1436.  king  a  formal  sentence  of  deposition.  In  a  meet- 
ing, however,  of  the  Council  of  all  three  kingdoms,  Erik 
of  Pomerania  was  again  acknowledged  King  of  Sweden. 
To  appease  the  growing  displeasure,  the  king  summoned 
a  Diet  at  Vadstena,  where  he  agreed  that  Charles 
Canutson  Bonde  and  Christiern  Niclson  Vasa  should 
be  appointed  to  digest  a  new  plan  of  government.  But 
the  rebellion  soon  broke  out  with  renewed  power.  A 
rivalship  commenced  between  Canutson  and  Engel- 
brechtson. Both  were  fired  with  the  glorious  emulation 
of  being  the  deliverer  of  their  country.  Engelbrecht- 
son, in  particular,  was  extremely  successful,  when  he 
was  suddenly  murdered  by  the  artifice  of  his  rival ; 
between  whom  and  Erik  Puke  a  new  dispute  arose,  that 
once  more  restored  the  king's  affairs.  Canutson  and 
Christiern  Yasa,  however,  soon  seemed  resolved  to  over- 
turn the  whole  arrangement  of  the  offices  of  govern- 
ment, and  to  substitute  creatures  of  their  own  in  place 
of  those  who  formerly  had  filled  them ;  wherefore  the 
nobility  and  the  clergy,  perceiving  their  aim,  remonstra- 
ted against  the  continuance  of  this  junta  in  office,  and 
A.  d.,  summoned  a  general  Diet  at  Calmar,  where  the 
1437-  senators  of  all  three  kingdoms  met  together  to 
draw  up  more  precise  terms  for  the  Union.  Here  it  was 
stipulated,  that  after  the  death  of  the  king,  forty  men 


180  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

of  each  kingdom  should  meet  together  in  Halmstad,  to 
elect  the  new  ruler ;  that  the  king  should  always  have 
two  intelligent  men  with  him,  and  war  could  not  be 
declared,  or  peace  concluded,  without  the  consent  of  all 
three  kingdoms ;  and  that  the  king  should  never  prefer 
to  the  offices  of  trust  any  foreigners  within  the  limits  of 
the  Swedish  monarchy.  This  delineation,  in  some 
respects  more  accurate  and  complete  than  that  of  Cal- 
mar,  1397,  never  gained,  however,  any  validity ;  and 
the  rupture  between  the  kingdoms  was  incurable,  until 
at  length  the  "Union  of  Calmar,  which  had  promised  the 
North  so  great  blessings  and  stability,  after  a  series 
of  wars  and  immense  bloodshed,  and  only  after  a  course 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years,  was  broken  and 
nullified.  Even  in  Denmark  a  great  dissatisfaction  with 
the  reign  of  Erik  of  Pomerania  began  to  appear,  occa 
sioned  by  the  long  and  unlucky  wars,  by  the  debase- 
ment of  the  coin,  and  by  the  heavy  taxes  lavished  on 
unworthy  favorites  of  the  king,  or  wasted  in  idle  exhi- 
bitions of  magnificence.  The  people  were  also  highly 
displeased  with  his  bestowing  the  highest  offices  on  Ger- 
man noblemen,  and  with  his  endeavors  to  get  his  cousin- 
german,  Bugislaw  of  Pomerania,  appointed  his  joint 
governor  and  successor.  Vexed  at  the  senators'  non- 
compliance with  his  request  about  that,  Erik  of  Pome- 
rania left  Denmark,  repairing  to  the  island  of  a.  d., 
G-ulland  with  a  large  body  of  troops,  with  all  the  1439- 
jewels  of  the  crown,  and  with  his  concubine,  Cecilia,  of 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  181 

whom  he  was  passionately  enamored.  He  was  now 
29th  June  dethroned  in  all  three  kingdoms,  and  his  namo 
A.D.,  rendered  both  odious  and  despicable.  It  was  the 
1439'  time  for  a  competitor  to  start  forth,  and  to  avail 
himself  of  this  general  disaffection  to  the  dethroned 
king,  who  had  no  more  expectation  of  re-ascending  the 
throne. 

This  competitor  was  Christopher  of  Bavaria,  a  son 

of  Erik's  sister,  Catharina,  and  Pfalzgrave  John.     Erik 

being   childless,   Christopher,    who   now  returned  from 

Bavaria,  stood  thus  plainly  in  the  hope  of  succession, 

A.  d.,   and  the  regency  of  the  three  Scandinavian  king- 

1439.    doms  was,  at  the  Diet  of  Halmstad,  conferred 

upon  him.     The  despicable  Erik  of  Pomerania  lived  for 

ten  years  on  Grulland,  where  he,  with  ignominy,  dragged 

on  a  life  of  piracy,  from  whence  he  went  to  Pomerania, 

A.  D.,   where  he,  having  no  resource  but  in  the  society 

1459.    0f  h^  concubine,  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years, 

died  unlamented.     His  noble  and  magnanimous  queen, 

Philippa,  whom  he  often,  had  treated  unkindly,  betook 

herself  to  the  monastery  of  Vadstena,  which  she  herself 

had  founded,  and  here  she  expired,  on  the  fifth  of  July, 

1430.     The  king  perceiving  his  loss,  and  repenting  of 

his  conduct,  caused  many  requiems  to  be  sung  for  a 

speedy  entrance  of  her  soul  into  the  dwellings  3f  the 

blessed. 

The  taste  for  classical  learning,  at  this  time,  was  far 
from  being  universally  diffused   in  the    Scandinavian 


J  82  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

countries,  and  it  is,  therefore,  highly  to  be  appreciated 
that  some  monkish  writers  preserved  alive  the  embers 
of  the  literary  spirit,  and  contributed  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  such  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  authors  as  we 
now  possess  entire  ;  and  however  miserable  an  indi- 
vidual Erik  of  Pomerania  rightly  may  appear,  he  seems, 
nevertheless,  to  have  had  some  taste  for  literature,  or 
disposition  to  patronize  science  and  the  arts,  since  he 
prevailed  with  the  Pope,  Martin  V.,  to  permit  him  to 
found  a  University  in  Copenhagen,  which,  however,  on 
account  of  his  tumultuous  reign,  was  not  carried  into 
effect. 

Christopher  of  Bavaria  succeeded  now  to  the  throne 

a.d.,  of  his  uncle,  and  received  homage  in  "Wiborg. 

1440.  Immediately  on  his  arrival  in  Denmark,  the 
senate  published  a  decree,  whereby  all  those  were 
declared  enemies  to  their  country  who  should  visit 
Erik's  court  on  Grulland,  and  a  manifesto  was  issued 
containing  the  articles  of  accusation  against  Erik  of 
Pomerania,  which  were  affixed  on  the  gates  of  all  the 
northern  Hanse-towns.  Although  Christopher  of  Bava- 
ria was  elected  by  the  senators,  the  peasantry  being  yet 
regarded  as  too  inconsiderable  to  have  any  voice,  he  fol- 
lowed, nevertheless,  the  old  custom,  to  travel  round  to 
receive  homage  in  the  different  kingdoms.  In  Sweden 
there  were  some  hindrances  to  his  election  ;  but  the 
clergy,  taking  as  much  pains  in  preserving  the  union  of 
the  three  kingdoms  as  the  nobility  did  in  nullifying  it, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 


183 


prevailed  upon  the  senate  to  acknowledge  Christopher 
king  of  Sweden,  and  to  swear  allegiance  to  him  as 
A.  d.,  their  sovereign,  whereafter  he  was  crovmed  in 
1U1-  Stockholm.  In  the  year  following  Christopher 
went  from  Sweden  to  Norway,  and  received,  at  Opslo, 
the  crown  of  that  kingdom.  Thence  he  passed  to  Den- 
a.  d.,  mark,  and  was  crowned  at  Ripen,  by  the  arch- 
1443-  bishop  of  Lund.  Charles  Canutson  Bonde  re- 
signed his  office,  but  the  Diet  declared,  that,  in  conside- 
ration of  his  services,  he  should  enjoy  Finland  and  the 
island  of  Oland,  but  on  condition,  that  the  crown  should, 
at  any  time,  have  power  to  redeem  them  for  the  sum  of 
forty  thousand  marks  in  silver.  Christopher  confirmed 
this  donation  of  the  Diet,  and  granted,  thereafter,  the 
investiture  of  Schleswig,  as  a  hereditary  fief,  to  duke 
Adolphus,  in  order  to  have  a  support  in  him,  if  need 
be.  In  the  beginning  of  his  reign  a  violent  rebellion 
broke  out  amongst  the  peasantry  of  Jutland,  who  re- 
fused paying  taxes,  unless  they  were  permitted  to  pay 
them  to  their  late  king- Erik,  of  whom  they  yet  were 
in  favor.  The  peasants,  whose  army  is  said  to  have 
amounted  to  the  number  of  twenty-five  thousand  men, 
routed  the  royal  troops,  slew  the  commanders,  and  put 
to  death  all  the  noblemen  they  could  catch,  with  every 
circumstance  of  cruelty.  Incensed  at  their  obstinacy, 
Christopher  marched  against  them  in  person,  gave  them 
battle,  and  obtained  a  complete,  but  bloody  victory. 
Henry  Togon,  a  senator,  who  had  always  espoused  the 


184  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

cause  of  the  dethroned  king,  together  with  several  others 
of  his  adherents,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  "broken  alive 
upon  the  wheel.  But  the  main  body  of  the  rebellious 
peasants,  called  the  Vendelboers,  who  lived  north  of  the 
Lymfjord,  gained  a  neighboring  hill,  which  they  so 
intrenched  with  wagons  and  trains,  as  to  withstand  all 
the  attacks  of  the  king's  cavalry.  At  last,  Christopher 
was  advised  to  offer  them  pardon,  if  they  would  submit, 
which  expedient  induced  them  to  throw  down  their 
arms.  To  pay  tithes  to  the  clergy,  of  which  there  so 
long  time  had  been  a  dispute,  and  with  which  the 
peasants  were  yet  highly  displeased,  was  decided  upon 
under  Christopher,  by  a  sentence  from  the  senate.  He 
also  tried  to  limit  the  commercial  privileges  of  the 
Hanse-towns,  confirming  their  privileges  only  upon  con- 
dition that  they  should  interpose  no  obstacles  to  the 
trade  of  other  nations,  and  that  Scandinavian  merchants 
should  enjoy  the  same  privileges  in  the  Hanseatic  har- 
bors. In  Sweden  they  were  not  satisfied  with  Christo- 
pher's reign,  though  it  came  not  to  any  rebellion.  He 
was  there  surnamed  the  bark  king-  (Barkekongen),  be 
cause  an  unfruitful  year  happened,  in  which  the  people, 
to  get  sufficient  bread,  had  to  grind  flour  of  bark.  But, 
in  all  reason,  his  subjects  were  very  much  displeased 
with  his  connivance  at  Erik  of  Pomerania's  piracies, 
which  he  passed  over,  saying :  "  My  uncle  must  also  do 
something  for  the  support  of  his  life."  Christopher  of 
Bavaria  received  an  embassy  from  the  Sultan  of  Turkey, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


185 


A  d.,   who  offered  him  his  daughter ;  hut  the  king  de- 
"**■    clined  accepting  the  offer,  Dorothea,  a  daughter 
of  the  markgrave,  John  of  Brandenburg,  surnamed  the 
Alchymist,   heing   more    agreeahle   to   his   inclinations. 
Before  leaving   Christopher,  it  may  he  added,  that  ha 
removed  the  royal  residence  from  Roeskilde  to  Copen- 
hagen, where,  since  that  time,  the  kings  of  Denmark 
have   resided,'  and  that  he  entered   upon  a   treaty  of 
Roeskilde,  whereby  Copenhagen,  until  then  a  dependency 
A.  d.,  on  that  diocese,  was  ceded  to  the  crown.     After 
1448-    a  reign  of  eight  years  he  died.     On   assuming 
the  reins  of  government  he  gave  some  indications  of  a 
vigorous  administration ;    hut  this  was  only  of   short 
duration.     He  was  abandoned  to  his  pleasures,  and,  like 
most  kings,  a  slave  to  unworthy  favorites. 

The  prosperity  and  esteem  of  the  peasantry,  who 
tilled  the  ground  and  constituted  the  majority  of  the 
nation,  seem  to  have  been  very  lightly  considered  in 
this  period.  Frequent  rebellions  of  the  peasants,  quelled 
by  much  bloodshed,  under  Erik  Ploughpenning,  Chris- 
topher I.,  Erik  (flipping,  Erik  Menved,  Waldemar  At- 
terdag,  and  Christopher  of  Bavaria,  prove  that  the 
peasants  were  sensible  of  the  yoke  resting  upon  them, 
but  in  vain  tried  to  shake  it  off.  The  almost  uninter- 
rupted internal  disturbances  and  external  wars,  of 
which  the  nobility  and  the  clergy  availed  themselves  to 
enlarge  their  power  and  riches,  weakened  and  impover- 
ished the  peasantry,  and  they  were  considered  only  a 


186  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

part  of  the  property  belonging  to  the  nohlemen,  trans- 
ferable  along  with  horses,  cows  and  other  movables, 
at  the  will  of  the  owner ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
clergy  and  the  nobility  were  floating  in  riches  and  ex- 
tensive privileges.  The  clergy  were  allowed  a  free 
election  to  all  vacant  church  preferments,  the  king 
renouncing  his  power  of  presentation.  No  tax  could  be 
imposed  upon  the  clergy,  except  in  one  particular  case 
•—the  king's  captivity.  No  freeman  (nobleman)  could 
be  taken  or  imprisoned,  or  dispossessed  of  his  free  tene- 
ments or  liberties,  or  outlawed,  or  banished,  or  any  way 
hurt  or  injured,  unless  by  the  legal  judgment  of  his 
equals ;  the  clergy  and  the  nobility  thus  being  set  far 
above  the  common  level. 

In  this  period,  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century, 
the  commercial  spirit  had  begun  to  make  some  "progress 
toward  the  North.  The  Baltic  was  then  infested  by 
pirates,  who  ravaged  the  coasts.  The  city  of  Liibeck, 
on  the  Baltic,  and  Hamburg,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe, 
were  obliged  to  enter  into  a  league  of  mutual  defence 
for  the  protection  of  their  merchantmen  against  these 
piracies.  This  association,  which  was,  as  before  men- 
tioned, termed  the  League  of  the  Hanse-towns,  became 
soon  so  formidable  in  the  eyes  of  the  kings  and  states 
of  Europe,  that  they  even  courted  its  alliance.  The 
burgher  class  of  Scandinavia  and  the  cities  were  very 
much  pressed  by  the  Hanseatic  towns,  which  had  made 
themselves  masters  of  all  trade  with  foreign  countries, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  187 

and  imported  German  commodities  to  the  Scandinavian 
cities ;  and  the  condition  of  the  burgher  class  was  about 
on  a  level  with  that  of  the  peasantry.  During  the 
greater  part  of  this  period,  the  general  state  of  literature 
was  at  a  very  low  ebb ;  but  a  brighter  period  was  now 
at  hand,  and  classical  learning  began  to  be  universally 
diffused,  and  a  more  genuine  taste  was  revived  for  polite 
literature,  when  the  admirable  invention  of  the  art  of 
printing  was  made,  in  the  year  1436,  by  John  von  Sor- 
genlock,  called  Gransefleisch,  from  Gruttenberg,  gene- 
rally, therefore,  called  John  Guttenberg.  This  inven- 
tion was,  as  is  well  known,  considerably  improved  by 
John  Faust,  a  rich  jeweler,  and  Peter  Schoffer,  an 
ecclesiastic  from  Grernsheim.  In  the  year  1457  the 
first  book  was  printed,  in  Latin,  namely,  the  Psalms 
of  David,  of  which  five  copies  yet  remain — in  Gottin- 
gen,  Vienna,  Mainz,  Paris,  and  in  the  royal  library  in 
Copenhagen. 


188  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  OLDENBURG. 


IY. 
1448—1536. 

Christian  7~- Charles  Canutson — Archbishop  Jens  Bengtson — Steno  Sture  the 
Elder— Battle  on  Brunkehill — Pilgrimage  to  Rome — University  of  Copen- 
hagen— i7aras-Charter — Division  of  the  Duchies — Expedition  to  Ditmarsh — 
Rebellion  in  Sweden  and  Norway — War  with  the  Hanse  Towns—  Chris- 
tian 11. — Expedition  against  Sweden — Archbishop  Gustav  Trolle — The 
Slaughter  at  Stockholm — Sigbrit-Dyveke — Torben  Oxe — The  Beginning  of 
the  Rek'rmation — Rebellion — The  King  flees — Frederick  I. — Civil  War — 
Rebellion  in  Skane — Soren  Norby — The  Reformation  spreads — John  Tau- 
sen — Diet  of  Odensee — Diet  of  Copenhagen — The  War  of  the  Count 
(Grevens  Feide) — Christian  HI. — Shipper  Clemens — Battle  by  Oxenhill — 
Literatuie  and  Language. 

Christopher  of  Bavaria,  dying  without  issue,  the 
advantages  which  would  have  accrued  from  annexing 
the  duchy  of  Schleswig  to  the  crown,  made  the  senate 
first  cast  their  eyes  on  Adolphus.  But  because  of  old 
age,  declining  accepting  the  crown  offered  him,  Adolphus 
proposed  to  them  his  nephew,  Christian,  a  son  of  Count 
Diderick  the  Happy,  of  Oldenburg,  whose  answer  to  the 
ambassadors  is  remarkable:  "I  have  three  sons,"  said 
he,  "  of  very  opposite  qualities  ;  one  is  passionately  fond 
of  women,  another  breathes  nothing  but  war,  but  the 
third  is  moderate  in  his  disposition,  prefers  peace  to  the 
din  of  arms,  and  is  generous  and  magnanimous."     With 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  189 

one  voice,  of  course,  the  senate  declared  for  that  prince 
whose  panegyric  the  father  had  drawn ;  and  the  house 
of  Oldenburg,  at  this  day  seated  on  the  throne  of  Den- 
a.  D.,  mark,  assumed  the  government  ir  the  person  of 
1448.  Christian  /.,  Count  of  01denburg/  and  a  nephew 
to  Adolphus,  duke  of  Schleswig  and  count  of  Holstein 
"Willingly  accepting  the  offer,  Christian  I.  sought  to  enter 
into  favor  with  the  people  by  marrying  the  queen-dowager 
Dorothea.  Next  he  gave  a  communication  in  writing 
to  the  Diet,  declaring  Denmark  an  elective  kingdom, 
and  binding  himself  not  to  impose  taxes,  not  to  declare 
war,  and  not  to  grant  any  deed  of  feoffment,  unless  con- 
sented to  by  the  Diet ;  after  which  he  was  anointed  and 
28th  Oct.  cr°wned  in  Copenhagen,  and  received  from  the 

a.  d.,  archbishop,  Yvon,  the  standard  of  the  kingdom. 
*  Christian  I.  now  sought  the  affection  and  friend- 
ship of  the  Swedish  nation,  in  order  to  pave  the  way 
for  an  unshaken  union  of  the  three  crowns.  But  the 
Swedes  endeavoring  to  break  the  Union  of  Calmar,  which 
they  considered  a  thorn  in  their  flesh,  rose  in  rebellion, 
and  chose,  diametrically  opposite  to  the  statutes  of 
said  Union,  and  against  the  express  wish  of  arch- 
bishop Jens  Bengtson  Oxenstjerna,  and  the  whole  Swe- 
dish clergy,  their  grand  mareshal,  Charles  Canutson, 
for  their  king.  Even  in  Norway,  assisted  by  his  kins- 
man, the  archbishop  Aslach  Bolt,  Charles  Canutson  was 

A.  d.,  crowned  in  Drontheim  as  king  of  Norway.     But 
U49-   in  the  following  year,  at  a  meeting  in  Halmstad, 


190  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  Swedish  and  Danish  senators  agreed  that  Charles 
Canutson  had  to  renounce  all  claim  to  Norway,  to  which 
it  was  certain  he  had  no  manner  of  right,  and  that  Den- 
mark and  Sweden,  after  the  death  or  deposition  of 
Charles  Canutson,  were  to  he  re-united.  Although 
Charles  Canutson  did  not  approve  of  that  agreement,  yet 
Christian  I.  was  declared  king  of  Norway,  and  a.  d., 
crowned  in  Drontheim.  At  the  same  time  an  U5°- 
agreement  was  made  in  Bergen,  that  Norway  and  Den- 
mark should  always  he  ruled  hy  one  king,  happen  what 
might  to  Sweden.  But  the  Swedes,  disgusted  with  the 
despotic  government  of  Charles  Canutson,  determined 
at  length  to  throw  off  his  yoke.  The  archbishop  Jens 
Bengtson  Oxenstjerna,  on  account  of  some  personal 
grievances,  headed  the  insurrection,  entered  the  metro- 
politan  church,  put  on  his  high-priest  ornaments,  and 
prostrated  himself  hefore  the  high  altar  ;  then  laying 
aside  his  habit,  he  swore  he  would  never  again  resume 
it,  until  Charles  Canutson  was  driven  out  of  the  throne 
of  Sweden. 

Charles  Canutson,  finding  the  greater  part  of  the 
Swedish  nation  disaffected,  concealed  the  public  treasure 
in  the  house  of  some  Dominican  friars,  and  embarked 
with  all  his  private  riches  in  a  ship,  with  which  a.  d., 
he  set  sail  to  Dantzic,  in  "Western  Prussia,  where  1457 
he  sojourned  for  seven  years.  Christian  I.  was  now 
unanimously  elected  king  of  Sweden,  conducted  intc 
the  church   by   the   archbishop,    and   crowned,    amidst 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA  191 

the  acclamations  of  the  people.  The  crown  of  all  three 
kingdoms  was  thus  now  placed  upon  his  head,  and  the 
Union  of  Calmar  re-established.  His  little  son,  Hans, 
only  three  years  of  age,  was  elected  his  successor  to  all 
three  kingdoms. 

Shortly  after,   at  the   death  of  Adolphus,   who  died 
A.  D.,   without  issue,  there  seemed  to  be  a  sure  prospect 

1459.  0f  re-uniting  South  Jutland  (Schleswig)  with  the 
kingdom,  but  instead  of  incorporating  it  with  the  Danish 
crown  as  an  escheated  fief,  Christian  I.  unwisely  engaged 
himself  in  negotiations  with  the  nobility  and  the  clergy, 
to  be  elected  duke  of  Schleswig  and  count  of  Holstein, 
to  which  latter,  however,  Otho  of  Schaumburg  was 
more  entitled ;  wherefore  he  had  to  purchase  Holstein 
for  the  sum  of  forty-three  thousand  florins,  and  to  buy 
off  the  pretensions  of  Gerhard  and  Maurice,  nephews  to 
the  late  Adolphus,  for  an  equivalent  of  forty  thousand 
florins.  Christian  I.  thus  became  king  of  Denmark, 
Norway,  and  Sweden,  duke  of  Schleswig  and  count  of 

a.  d.,  Holstein ;  whereupon  he  forced  the  Dominicans 

1460.  to  refund  the  treasure  lodged  in  their  hands  by 
Charles  Canutson,  after  they  had  for  a  long  time  denied 
the  fact.     But  in  a  short  time  new  disturbances  broke 

A.  D.,   out  in  Sweden,  where  the  nobility  still  sought  to 
1463.     prevent  a  firm  union  of  the  three  kingdoms,  and 
the  people  complained  of  the  king's  absence  from  Swe- 
den, and  of  burdensome  taxes.     The  king,  imagining 
that  the  archbishop  was  concerned  in  it,  ordered  him  to 


192  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

be  brought  a  prisoner  to  Denmark  ;  whereupon  a  vio- 
lent rebellion  arose,  headed  by  the  archbishop's  nephew, 
Ketil  Carlson  Vasa,  bishop  of  Linkoping,  who  invited 
Charles  Canutson  to  return  to  the  throne,  and  he  was  a 
second  time  acknowledged  king  of  Sweden  ;    but  his 
good  fortune  was  of  short  duration,  for  when  Christian 
I.  released  the  archbishop,  and  reconciled'  himself  with 
him,  Charles  Canutson  had  to  renounce  the  crown,  and 
swear  that  he  would  never  again  aspire  to  re-ascend  the 
throne.     Finally,  he  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  Finland, 
with  a  certain  appanage  for  his  subsistence.     Neverthe- 
less, assisted  by  the  lord  high  treasurer,  Erik  Axelson, 
Charles  Canutson,  whose   affairs  were  ruined  in  appear- 
ance, was  a  third  time  called  back  to  the  Swedish   a.  d., 
throne,  and  died  as  king  of  Sweden.     His  death,    147° 
however,    did    not    procure    Christian   I.    the    Swedish 
throne,  which  got  a  sagacious  ruler  in  Steno  Sture  the 
Elder,  a  nephew  to  Charles  Canutson,  who  for  twenty- 
six  years  governed  the  kingdom  with  wisdom,  curbed 
the  insolence  of  the  nobility,  elevated  the  peasantry  and 
the  burgher  class,   and  founded  the   celebrated   a,  D., 
University  of  Upsala.    Christian  I.  determined  to    u76- 
support  his  claim  to   Sweden  by  force  of  arms,  set  a 
powerful   armament  on  foot,   with  which  he  sailed  to 
Stockholm,   but   was   in   the   bloody   battle   on   a.  d., 
Brunkehill    totally    defeated    and    dangerously   U7L 
wounded,  thenceforward  desisting  from   any  claim   to 
Sweden. 


HISTOKY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  193 

Christian  I.  had  promised  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage 
A.D.  to  the  Holy  Land,  but  to  he  released  from  it  he 
1474.  took  a  journey  to  Rome.  On  his  way  thither  he 
visited  the  German  emperor  Frederick  III.,  who,  upon 
his  request,  elevated  Holstein,  Storman,  and  Ditmarsh 
to  a  dukedom,  enfeoffing  the  king  with  the  country  last 
mentioned,  which  for  a  long  space  of  time  had  been  a 
republic.  But  the  Ditmarshians  did  not  submit  to 
Denmark  till  the.  next  century,  after  a  most  bloody 
contest  for  their  liberty.  He  then  pursued  his  journey 
to  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with  extraordinary  dis- 
tinction by  his  Holiness  and  the  College  of  Cardinals. 
The  Pope,  Sixtus  IV.,  permitted  him  to  found  a  uni- 
versity in  Copenhagen.  Immediately  upon  his  return 
from  Rome,  the  king  went  to  Cologne  to  compose  some 
controversies  between  the  Emperor  and  Charles  the 
A.D.,  Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  university  was 
1479.  at  length  established,  the  bishop  of  Roeskilde 
being  appointed  chancellor,  but  on  account  of  its  narrow 
means  it  had  in  the  beginning  only  three  professors,  and 
gained  no  fame  till  after  the  introduction  of  the  Re- 
formation. The  young  students,  therefore,  visited  so 
frequently  foreign  universities,  that  the  king  deemed  it 
necessary  to  lay  it  upon  them  as  a  duty  first  for  some 
years  to  be  in  a  course  of  study  at  the  University  of 
Copenhagen.  Christian  I.  resolved  now  to  strengthen 
the  succession  by  the  marriage  of  his  son,  and  sent, 
therefore,  an  embassy  to.  Saxony,  to  demand  Christina^ 


194  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

daughter  to  the  elector  Ernst,  for  his  son.  The  pro- 
posals were  accepted,  and  the  marriage  ceremony  per- 
formed, on  which  occasion  the  Order  of  the  Elephant 
was  first  instituted.  Originally  this  order  bore  a  pa- 
triarchal cross,  which  after  the  Reformation  was  changed 
for  a  gold  chain  with  an  elephant  suspended  to  it.  The 
Danish  kings  confer  this  order  only  upon  princes  and 
noblemen  of  the  first  distinction,  observing,  however, 
one  rule,  which  is,  never  to  confer  it  upon  those  who 
have  not  first  been  favored  with  the  order  called  Danne- 
brog. 

Christian  I.  was  in  a  continual  want  of  money, 
occasioned  by  his  two  expensive  journeys,  and  by  the 
amount  he  had  to  pay  for  being  elected  Count  of  Hol- 
stein.  The  unfavorable  consequences  of  this  want  of 
money  appeared,  when  the  king's  daughter,  Margarethe, 
was  married  to  James  III.  of  Scotland ;  for  as  the  king 
was  not  able  to  pay  down  more  than  2,000  florins  of 
the  dowry,  which  amounted  to  60,000  florins,  the  Ork- 
ney and  Shetland  islands  were  mortgaged  for  the  58,000 
florins  ;  and  as  Denmark  for  a  long  series  of  years  was 
not  able  to  redeem  them,  and  Scotland,  because  this 
debt  had  waxen  so  old,  raised  difficulties  in  giving 
them  back,  these  possessions,  which  originally  belonged 
to  Norway,  were  lost  forever.  The  power  and  arbitra- 
riness of  the  Hanse-towns  yet  continuing  under  Chris- 
tian I.  appeared  strikingly  by  the  violent  acts  which 
their  officers  and   stewards   exercised   unpunished  in 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  195 

Bergen.  Falling  upon  the  royal  constable,  Olaf  Nid- 
son,  they  murdered  him,  the  bishop,  and  sixty  other  per- 
sons. Their  power  and  tyranny,  however,  did  not  long 
continue,  their  trade  began  to  be  limited,  and  their  de- 
clension to  draw  near,  other  lands,  particularly  Holland 
and  England,  beginning  to  trade  in  the  North,  and  ex- 
change commodities  from  India  and  the  Orient  for  the 
produce  and  manufactures  of  the  North ;  and  every 
variety  of  useful  merchandise,  was  now,  by  means  of 
the  Baltic  and  the  great  continental  rivers,  easily  con- 
veyed through  most  of  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  all  of 
which  successively  annihilated  the  superiority  of  the 
Hanse-towns ;  and  in  order  to  destroy  entirely  their 
detrimental  influence  in  Denmark,  Christian  I.  entered 
into  alliance  with  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Bur- 
gundy. He  also  enacted  a  commercial  law  containing 
many  regulations  favorable  to  the  mercantile  affairs  of 
Denmark ;  for  instance,  that  German  merchants  should 
not  be  permitted  to  travel  round  in  the  country  and  en- 
gross commodities  for  the  purpose  of  making  their  profit 
by  enhancing  the  price,  but  should  buy  them  in  the 
towns.  The  Hanseatic  confederacy  had,  from  the  year 
1438,  begun  to  decline,  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  it 
is  to  this  decline  Scandinavia  and  many  other  European 
states  owe  their  domestic  manufactures  and  the  increase 
of  their  real  wealth.  After  having  pursued  the  true 
interests  of  his  people,  and  sought  to  establish  order, 
tranquility,   and   an   equal   administration  of  justice, 


196  HISTOUT   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

Christian  I.  died,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-three   May  2, 
years,  and  lies  buried  in  the  Cathedral  of  Roes-      a.  d., 
kilde.  1481. 

He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  son  Hans 
(John),  as  we  have  seen,  already  in  his  father's  life- 
time elected  successor  in  all  three  kingdoms.  He  was 
immediately  acknowledged  king  of  Denmark,  but  in  the 
two  other  kingdoms,  especially  in  Sweden,  he  met  with 
considerable  difficulties,  Steno  Sturo  the  Elder  not  being 
disposed  to  resign.  Even  in  Norway  the  interest  of 
Steno  Sturo  was  promoted  by  the  aid  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Drontheim.  Nevertheless,  at  a  meeting  in  A.  D., 
Halmstad,  king  Hans  was  declared  king  of  Nor-  1483. 
way,  but  had  'to  sign  and  seal  a  charter  which  bears 
witness  to  the  increasing  power  of  the  nobility  and  the 
clergy.  All  the  old  privileges  of  the  clergy  were  con- 
firmed ;  the  king  could  no  more  meddle  with  the  election 
of  a  bishop  ;  the  peasants  and  attendants  belonging  to 
the  nobility  and  the  clergy  were  to  be  exempted  from 
paying  taxes.  The  king  could  not  confer  a  feoffment 
upon  any  one,  or  deprive  any  of  the  fief  he  had,  unless 
the  members  of  the  Diet  had  consented  to  it.  No  serf 
could  obtain  a  demesne,  nor  the  king  himself  mortgage 
it ;  and  the  right  to  fortify  manors,  abrogated  by  queen 
Margarethe,  was  in  this  charter  restored  to  the  nobility. 
But  about  any  privileges  for  the  commons,  who  yet  were 
considered  in  a  very  abject  and  despicable  light,  was  not 
one  word  spoken ;  and  if  the  king,  so  run  the  words, 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  197 

should  dare  to  violate  this  charter,  the  inhabitants  were 
entitled  to  apply  violent  means,  without  being  im- 
peached of  having  broken  their  oath  of  allegiance.  In 
the  same  year,  at  a  meetnig  in  Oahnar,  the  Swedish 
Diet  declared  Hans  king  of  Sweden,  but  Steno  Sturo 
set  all  engines  at  work  to  frustrate  the  resolution  of  the 
Diet,  his  arts  succeeding  so  happily,  that  for  fourteen 
years  the  king  hoped  in  vain  to  ascend  the  Swedish 
throne. 

In  the  duchies,  king  Hans  met  with  great  difficulties 
in  getting  elected,'  his  brother  Frederick,  whom  the 
influential  queen-dowager  ardently  assisted,  withstand- 
ing his  election.     At  length  both  of  them  were  elected 
A.D.,   dukes,  the  duchies  being  divided  into  Gottorp 
1490.   and   Segeberg.      Frederick   chose   the  Gottorp 
part,  but  was,  however,  not  satisfied,  and  continued 
long  to  show  himself  very  grasping  and  presumptuous. 
He  assumed  the  title,  "  Inheritor  of  Norway,"  and  laid 
claim  to  the  islands  of  Laaland,  Falster,  and  Mona ;  but 
A.D.,   at  the  Diet  of  Callundborg  these  insolent  claims 
1494.   were  rejected,  as  being  entirely  unauthorized. 
Nevertheless,  the  two  valuable  duchies  were  unfortu- 
nately again   dismembered  from  the   crown,  notwith- 
standing the  inconveniences  lately  felt  from  the  grant 
made  to  the  children  of  Gerhard.     King  Hans,  having 
now,  through  fourteen  years,  in  vain  hoped  that  by  the 
way  of  negotiations  he  might  ascend  the  throne  of 
Sweden,  resolved  to  enforce  his  right  by  arms.     His 


198  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

mother,  Dorothea,  who  had  continually  dissuaded  him 
from  war,  and  entreated  him  to  rest  satisfied  with  his 
present  dominions,  was  now  dead  and  gone,  and  Steno 
Sture  the  Elder  was  just  now  very  critically  situated, 
being  at  variance  with  several  influential  members  of 
the  senate,  and  with  Svante  Nielson  Sture,  who  en- 
gaged in  his  interest  the  archbishop  of  Upsala,  Jacob 
Ulfson,  and  all  the  clergy,  who  upbraided  Steno  Sture 
the  Elder  with  having  occasioned  numberless  losses 
and  disgraces  to  the  kingdom.  Hans  thought  it,  there- 
fore, a  favorable  opportunity  to  try  the  chances  of  war. 
The  Danish  army  advanced  upon  Stockholm,  opened 
the  gates  of  the  capital,  and  cut  to  pieces  an  army  from 
Dalecarlia,  consisting  of  thirty  thousand  men,  ad., 
in  the  memorable  battle  of  Rodebro,  where  1496. 
many  of  the  brave  Swedish  Dalecarlians  sacrificed 
their  lives  with  the  most  desperate  courage  ;  whereafter 
Steno  Sture,  encouraged  by  the  Dalecarlians,  attacked 
the  royal  Danish  army  at  JVordermalm,  but  was  again 
defeated.  Despairing  now  of  being  able  to  make  head 
against  the  king's  army,  the  administrator,  Steno  A.D., 
Sture,  signed  a  treaty,  by  which  he  acknowl-  1497. 
edged  king  Hans  king  of  Sweden,  agreeable  to  the 
Union  of  Calmar,  which  thus,  a  hundred  years  after  its 
founding,  was  re-established,  Steno  Sture  getting  Fin- 
land, the  city  of  Nykoping,  and  some  other  lands  and 
cities  assigned  for  his  maintenance.  King  Sans  was 
now  immediately  crowned  king  of  Sweden,  and  his 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  199 

son  Christian  elected  Ms  successor.  The  king  now 
probed  the  wounds  of  the  state,  applying  the  most 
moderate  and  the  wisest  remedies  to  compose  the 
controversies  in  Sweden,  and  effect  a  more  friendly 
spirit. 

The  Swedish  affairs  settled,  the  king  engaged  in  a 
war,  which  terminated  little  to  his  honor  or  advantage. 
It  was  occasioned  by  the  grant  made  by  the  emperor 
to  the  late  king  of  that  country  inhabited  by  the  people 
called  Ditmarshians.  For  many  ages  this  brave  people 
had  thrown  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and  aspired  to  perfect 
independence.  A  considerable  royal  army  was  now 
equipped,  the  greatest  part  of  which  consisted  of  levied 
troops,  under  the  command  of  George  Slentz,  a  Ger- 
man nobleman.  To  cooperate  with  this  enormous 
force,  duke  Frederick,  the  king's  brother,  arrived, 
together  with  the  flower  of  the  nobility  of  Schleswig 
and  Holstein.  So  sure  did  the  Danes  make  themselves 
of  victory,  that  they  had  shared  the  booty  before  the 
engagement,  and  every  one  brought  carriages  for  mov- 
ing off  his  proportion  of  the  spoil.  But  their  expecta- 
tion was  dissipated  like  a  summer's  cloud.  In  fact, 
few  enterprises  were  preceded  by  more  immense  prep- 
arations, and  as  few,  perhaps,  attended  with  a  more 
unfortunate  issue,  the  great  object  falling  altogether 
short  of  its  aim.  It  has  been  mentioned,  that  Dit- 
marsh  had  been  a  republic  (a  district  not  seven  Danish 
miles  in  extent),  which  now  the  Danish  king  was  de- 


200  HISTOKY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

sirous  of  subjugating.  The  Ditmarshians,  penetrated 
with  love  of  liberty,  threw  down  the  dykes,  which 
restrained  the  encroachments  of  the  North  Sea,  and 
the  whole  country  was  laid  under  water.  A  small 
body  of  one  thousand  men,  headed  by  Wolf  Isebrant, 
opposed  boldly  the  royal  army,  and  a  murderous  battle 
was  fought,  the  Danes  attempting  all  the  time  to  drain 
off  the  inundation.  But  the  sluices  being  opened,  and 
the  water  gushing  in  from  all  parts,  the  confusion 
among  the  Danes  reached  the  highest*  pitch,  and  the 
great  royal  army  was  totally  routed  near  Hem-  A.,  D. 
mingsfed,  in  Holstein.  Whole  ranks  of  the  1500. 
Danes  were  swept  down  by  the  grape-shot  of  the 
Ditmarshians ;  king  Hans  himself  made  a  narrow 
escape ;  the  old  banner,  Dannebrog,  was  lost,  and  an 
immense  number  of  German  and  Danish  noblemen 
covered  the  battle-field.  The  Ditmarshians  committed 
all  sorts  of  cruelties  on  the  bodies  of  the  wounded ; 
their  eyes  were  plucked  out,  their  noses  slit,  and,  their 
ears  cut  off. 

This  great  and  decisive  victory  secured  the  independ- 
ence of  the  little  republic;  and  for  many  years  no 
superiority  of  numbers  could  overcome  the  irresistible 
bravery  of  the  intrepid  Ditmarshians.  No  sooner  the 
S weeds,  dissatisfied  with  king  Hans  and  with  the  out- 
rages of  the  royal  bailiffs,  had  been  informed  of  the 
defeat  of  the  Danish  army  at  Hemmingsted,  than  they 
revolted  again,  judging  this  a  favorable  opportunity  to 


HISTOKY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  201 

shake  off  the  Danish  yoke.  Steno  Sture  was  re-elected 
administrator,  and  the  rebellion  increased  to  such  a 
degree,  that  soon  the  king  was  master  of  only  the 
castles  of  Calmar  and  Stockholm,  which,  with  great 
courage  and  perseverance,  were  defended  by  Hans' 
queen,  Christina  of  Saxony,  until,  after  a  siege  of  eight 
months,  the  whole  garrison  wasted  away  by  sickness 
and  hunger. 

The  revolt  in  Sweden  was  the  signal  for  another  in 
A.D.,    Norway,  which,  however,  soon  ceased,  when  the 

1502.  plot  was  discovered,  and  the  ring-leader,  Canute 
Alfson  put  to  death  ;  and  a  later  rebellion,  headed  by 
Rerluf  Hydefad  and  Bishop  Charles  of  Hammer,  was 
quelled  with  great  severity  and  frequent  executions,  by 
the  king's  son,  Christian,  who,  since  the  year  1501,  had 
been  appointed  administrator  of  Norway.  Prince  Chris- 
tian took  Herluf  Hydefad  and  the  bishop  prisoners,  con- 
demned them  to  death,  and  ordered  them  to  be  broken 
on  the  wheel.  In  a  word,  the  rigor  with  which  his 
Highness  treated  the  rebels,  and  especially  the  nobility, 
a  great  number  of  whom  he  put  to  death,  gave  so  rapid 
a  progress    to  his  arms,   that  he  soon   saw  himself 

A.  D.,  master  of  all  Norway.    Meanwhile  Steno  Sture 

1503.  the  Elder  had  died,  and  was  succeeded  in  the 
administratorship  by  Svante  Nielson  Sture. 

A  new  ring-leader  now  appeared  in  Sweden,  Hem- 
ming Gad,  bishop  of  Linkoping.  Possessed  of  engag- 
ing manners,  of  great  ingenuity,  of  military  talents, 


202  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

and  being  a  decided  adversary  of  the  Union  of  Calmar, 
and  bearing  an  inveterate  hatred  to  Denmark,  the 
bishop  was  very  fit  for  infusing  a  rebellions  spirit  into 
the  Swedish  nation;  upon  which,  by  his  uncommon 
eloquence,  he  exercised  a  great  influence.  The  nego- 
tiations were  carried  on  through  several  meet-  A.  D., 
ings,  but  without  settling  the  disputes.  At  1505. 
length,  at  a  meeting  in  Calmar,  the  council  of  all  three 
kingdoms  agreed  to  compose  and  accommodate  the 
differences  between  king  Hans  and  the  disobedient 
Swedes.  The  Swedish  senators  not  appearing,  the 
Danish  and  Norwegian  senate  pronounced  the  sen- 
tence, that  Svante  Kielson  Sture  and  his  partisans  were 
guilty  of  high  treason  and  rebellion;  and  after  the 
scandalous  conduct  of  Sweden  had  been  represented  in 
its  strongest  colors  to  the  German  emperor,  Maximil- 
i<m,  he  confirmed  this  sentence,  and  forbade  all  Ger- 
man countries  and  cities  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  factious  Sweden.  A  war  now  also  broke  out  be- 
tween Denmark  and  the  Hanse-towns,  which  would  not 
break  off  their  commercial  connections  with  Sweden. 
Moreover,  the  Hanse-towns  were  exasperated  at  the 
increase  of  other  nations'  trade  in  the  North,  and  espe- 
cially at  a  treaty  concluded  by  Hans  with  England,  by 
which  this  country  was  granted  the  same  privileges  as 
the  Hanse-towns  had  hitherto  exclusively  enjoyed.  In 
this  naval  war  the  Danish  sea-heroes,  Otto  Bud,  Soren, 
ISTorby,  Andrew  Bilde,  and  Holger  Ulfstand,  signalized 


HISTOKY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  203 

themselves  by  the  bravest  exploits ;  and  by  the  peace 
of  Malom  a  war  with  the  Hanse-towns  for  the  A.D., 
first  time  ended  successfully  for  Denmark  ;  the  1512. 
merchantmen  of  which  now  rode  triumphant  in  the 
Baltic.  The  Hanse-towns  had  to  promise  to  break  off 
all  mercantile  connections  with  Sweden  while  rebel- 
lious, and  to  defray  the  charge  of  war  by  paying  thirty 
thousand  florins.  It  also  came  in  Malmo  to  an  agree- 
ment with  Sweden,  which,  however,  put  no  end  to  the 
contests ;  the  Swedes,  in  spite  of  this  agreement,  elect- 
A.D.,  ing,  after  the  death  of  Svante  Nielson  Sture, 
1512.  his  son,  Steno  Sture  the  Younger,  administrator. 
20th  Feb.  ^ne  next  Jear  ^nS  Hans  died,  after  a  reign  of 
A.  D.  thirty -two  years.  "Without  any  brilliancy  of 
talents,  his  character  is  generally  said  to  have 
been  tempered  with  piety,  moderation,  and  simplicity 
of  manners.  He  was  so  great  an  admirer  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  ancient  Danes,  that  he  even  imitated 
their  dress,  and  always  wore  an  antique  sword  hung 
over  his  robe.  Nevertheless,  for  having  caused  his 
treasurer,  Anders,  to  be  beheaded,  only  on  account  of 
a  loose  suspicion  of  embezzlement,  king  Hans  is  blamed 
very  much,  the  majority  considering  the  treasurer  in- 
nocent. On  his  death-bed  the  king  was  also  so  touched 
with  remorse  at  having  been  instrumental  in  the  treas- 
urer's death,  that  he  often  called  upon  his  name  in  a 
kind  of  frenzy,  and  ordered,  before  breathing  his  last, 
requiems  to  be  sung  for  the  rest  of  the  soul  of  the  inno- 
cent treasurer. 


204  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

During  the  reign  of  king  Hans,  two  Norwegian 
noblemen  stabbed  the  grand  marshal,  Paul  Zazmand 
(Salmon),  as  he  was  passing  over  a  bridge  in  Copenha- 
gen, and  flung  his  body  into  the  sea,  saying  that  land 
was  not  so  natural  an  element  for  a  fish  as  the  sea  ;  al- 
luding to  Laxmand,  which  was  the  marshal's  name. 
The  king  commenced  a  lawsuit  against  the  murdered 
man,  who  was  declared  guilty  of  treacherous  connec- 
tions with  the  Swedish  rebels,  and  his  large  estates  were 
adjudged  to  the  king. 

Christian  II.,  his  son,  in  Sweden  generally  called 
Christian  the  Tyrant,  was  now  raised  to  the  throne ;  a 
man  in  every  respect  opposite  to  his  father.  He  was  of 
high  genius,  ability  and  judgment,  but  not  possessed  of 
any  mild  and  humane  disposition.  His  administration 
was  like  Cromwell's  in  England,  arbitrary,  cruel,  and 
vigorous,  and  he  made  no  scruple  to  use  religion  for 
reaching  his  aim.  In  political  matters  he  was  both  a 
leveler  and  a  tyrant.  He  was  born  on  the  2d  of  July, 
1481,  two  years  before  the  great  reformer,  Martin  Lu- 
ther. His  father,  king  Hans,  put  the  young  prince  out 
to  board  with  a  wealthy  citizen  in  Copenhagen,  called 
Sans  Bookbvndefr,  where  George  Hinze,  an  ecclesiastic, 
daily  came  to  teach  him.  The  prince,  being  of  a  wild 
character,  and  by  his  dissipations  often  hazarding  his 
own  life,  Hans  Bookbinder  was  desirous  of  being  freed 
from  the  burden  of  having  supervision  over  him,  and 
proposed,  therefore,  to  the  king  to  place  him  with 
Hinze.    He  neither  being  able  to  moderate  the  prince, 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  205 

had  to  have  a  watch  upon  his  actions,  to  take  him  along 
with  him  to  church,  and  make  him  sing  in  the  choir 
together  with  the  other  singing  boys.  The  king  con- 
sidering it  below  the  prince's  dignity,  took  him  again 
to  the  royal  palace,  and  caused  him  to  be  taught  by  a 
German  master  of  arts,  in  general  called  Master  Con- 
rad, who  instructed  him  so  thoroughly  and  carefully  in 
Latin,  that  the  young  prince  spoke  it  with  the  greatest 
volubility  and  wrote  it  with  classical  elegance.  On 
account  of  his  being  trained  amongst  the  commons,  he 
had  sucked  in,  as  with  his  mother's  milk,  a  great  predi- 
lection for  the  burgher  class  and  the  peasantry,  while 
he,  on  the  other  hand,  cherished  a  strong  antipathy  to 
the  nobility  and  the  clergy,  who  restrained  his  power 
and  oppressed  the  lower  orders.  When  twenty  years 
of  age,  he  was,  as  before  mentioned,  sent  to  Norway,  to 
quell  a  rebellion  there,  which  he  perf  ormed  with  great 
courage,  but  also  with  the  utmost  severity.  Thereafter 
appointed  administrator  of  Norway,  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Dyveke,  a  handsome  girl,  whose  mother, 
Sighrit,  had  moved  from  Amsterdam  to  Bergen,  where 
she  kept  a  tavern.  Both  of  them  exercised,  from  that 
time,  a  great  but  corruptive  influence  upon  Christian 
A-  D->  II.  On  the  death  of  King  Hans,  he  was,  with- 
1513.  ou{.  anv  opposition,  acknowledged  king  of  Den- 
mark and  Norway,  but  Sweden,  as  usual,  raised  diffi- 
culties concerning  his  election,  and  several  years  passed 
away  before  he  could  ratify  his  claims  there.    Meantime 


206  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

A.D.,  Christian  resolved  to  strengthen  his  power  by 
1515.  marrying  the  noble  and  gentle  princess  Eliza- 
beth, a  sister  to  the  celebrated  Charles  V.,  emperor  of 
Germany  and  Holland.  Studious  to  please  his  young 
queen,  the  king  sent  to  Holland  for  gardeners  and  a 
colony  of  Dutch  to  cultivate  all  sorts  of  fruits  and  other 
vegetables  for  her  table,  and  assigned  them  the  little 
island  of  Amager,  close  by  Copenhagen,  where  they 
highly  improved  the  horticulture,  hitherto  little  known 
in  the  North.  Notwithstanding  his  marriage,  the  king's 
unlawful  connection  with  his  concubine,  Dyvcka,  con- 
tinued, aintil  a  sudden  death  took  her  off.  Many  be- 
lieved that  she  had  been  killed  by  poison  slowly  infused 
into  her  by  the  family  of  a  rich  nobleman,  Torben 
Oxen,  who  had  fallen  in  love  with  Dyveka,  and  would 
marry  her.  Torben  confessed  that  he  had  solicited  her 
favor,  but  never  obtained  it.  Immediately  the  king's 
countenance  altered,  and  he  was  provoked  to  such  a 
degree,  that  he  resolved  to  put  Torben  Oxen  to  death 
without  mercy.  He  was  arrested  and  imprisoned.  The 
affair  was  tried  by  the  senate,  where  he  was  unanimous- 
ly acquitted,  the  law  having  assigned  no  punishment 
for  simple  concupiscence.  When  the  senate's  decree 
was  related  to  the  king,  he  flew  into  a  passion,  saying, 
that  if  his  friends  had  been  as  numerous  in  the  senate 
as  Torben's,  their  judgment  would  have  been  different ; 
adding :  "  Even  if  he  had  a  neck  as  thick  as  that  of  a 
bull,  he  shall  lose  it ;  and  when  did  I  ever  say  a  thing, 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  207 

make  a  promise,  or  utter  a  threat,  that  I  did  not  fulfill 
my  word  ?  "  He  proceeded  to  assemble  twelve  peasants 
of  the  neighborhood  before  the  gate  of  the  citadel,  and 
ordered  them  to  pass  sentence  on  Torben.  Dreading 
his  majesty's  resentment,  and  thinking  they  would  be 
sacrificed  if  they  did  not  comply  with  his  humor,  they 
gave  their  verdict  in  the  following  terms  :  "  We  do  not 
judge  Torben,  but  his  own  words  condemn  him;" 
whereafter  he  was  immediately  beheaded. 

This  despotic  act  irritated  the  nobility  yet  more 
with  the  king,  who  during  his  whole  reign  strove  to 
restrain  the  extravagant  power  and  influence  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  and  to  elevate  the  peasantry  and 
the  burgher  class.  It  is  here  not  out  of  place  to  remark 
that  many  of  his  laws  bear  witness  to  a  sound  judgment, 
mainly  aiming  at  removing  and  reforming  the  degene- 
racy of  manners  and  morals  among  the  clergy,  and  at 
diminishing  their  exorbitant  riches  and  power,  which 
rendered  them  odious  to  the  people  and  prevented 
them  from  being  examples  of  the  virtues  they  had  to 
preach.  Of  the  school  affairs  the  king  took  a  peculiar 
care.  He  increased  the  salary  of  the  teachers,  and 
commanded  them  to  prove  their  qualification  by  submit- 
ting to  a  public  examination.  Considering  the  great 
influence  and  power  of  the  nobility  and  clergy  a  blight 
upon  the  social  condition  of  the  mass  and  an  obstacle  to 
the  progress  of  society,  he  struggled,  during  his  whole 
reign,  against  the  encroachments  of  the  aristocracy, 


208  HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

until,  at  last,  because  of  his  despotism  and  cruelty,  a 
general  insurrection  broke  out,  which  retarded  him  in 
realizing  his  many  salutary  reforms. 

But  now  an  epoch  commenced,  the  most  important 
of  any  in  the  history  of  the  North.  The  great  Ee- 
f ormation,  which  Martin  Luther  had  begun  in  Saxony, 
was  early  introduced  into  the  Scandinavian  countries, 
and  Christian  II.  received  with  joy  this  new  religious 
system  of  liberty,  winch  he  considered  conducive  to  pro- 
mote his  plans.  Endeavoring  in  vain  to  induce  Luther 
to  visit  Copenhagen,  he  prevailed  upon  his  A.D., 
uncle,  Frederick  the  Wise,  Elector  of  Saxony,  1520. 
to  send  him  Martin  Reinhardt,  who  for  a  short  time 
preached  the  new  doctrine ;  but  not  being  able  to 
preach  correctly  in  Danish,  and,  therefore,  of  ten,  ex- 
citing the  mirth  of  his  hearers,  he  left  Denmark ; 
whereafter  Carlstadt,  another  disciple  of  Luther's, 
arrived  in  Copenhagen ;  but  he  also  returned  soon  to 
Germany  without  having  performed  anything  worthy 
of  notice. 

Nevertheless,  Christian  II.,  though  in  favor  of  the 
Reformation,  felt  obliged  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
the  Pope,  Leo  X.,  who  might  perhaps  be  useful  to  him 
in  regulating  the  Swedish  concerns,  and  he  permitted, 
therefore,  the  abominable  Arcemboldus,  a  seller  of  in- 
dulgences, to  travel  throughout  his  dominions  to  make 
sale  of  releases  from  the  pains  of  purgatory,  which  this 
pious  robber  said  every  one  might  purchase  for  a  small 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

sum  of  money.  The  form  of  the  absolution  issued  by 
Arcemboldus  was  as  follows  :  "  I  absolve  thee  from  all 
thy  sins,  how  enormous  soever,  and  remit  thee  all  man- 
ner of  punishment,  which  thou  oughtest  to  suffer  in 
purgatory,  and  at  death  the  gates  of  paradise  shall  be 
opened  to  receive  thee.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; "  even  adding,  the 
same  as  Tetzel,  the  Dominican  friar,  in  Germany : 
"  As  soon  as  the  money  clinks  in  the  coffer  the  soul 
springs  out  from  purgatory."  The  king,  however, 
soon  fell  out  with  Arcemboldus,  and  deprived  him  of  a 
great  portion  of  the  money  he  blasphemously  had  col- 
lected. 

The  Swedes  continued  showing  themselves  unwilling 
to  acknowledge  Christian  II.,  who  was,  however,  fortu- 
nate enough  to  find  a  zealous  partisan  in  Gustavus 
Trolle,  Archbishop  of  Upsala,  who  carried  on  a  corres- 
pondence with  the  king  to  extinguish  the  liberties  of 
his  native  country.  Steno  Sture  the  Younger  encom- 
passed now  the  Archbishop's  castle,  Steka,  and  the 
senate  of  Sweden  deposed  him  from  his  dignities.  The 
mighty  prelate  had  immediate  recourse  to  the  Pope, 
Leo  X.,  who  granted  him  a  bull,  laying  the  kingdom  of 
Sweden  under  the  sentence  of  excommunication.  The 
affrighted  Swedes  returned  to  their  allegiance,  Gustavus 
Trolle  was  restored  to  his  archiepiscopal  functions,  and 
Christian  II.  succeeded  by  the  aid  of  the  archbishop  in 
establishing  the  supremacy  of  Sweden.    Seven  hostages 


210  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

were  given  Christian  as  a  security  for  the  loyalty  of 
the  Swedes,  and  amongst  these  was  the  young  Gustavm 
Erikson  Vasa,  who  was  destined  by  Providence  to  be 
the  deliverer  of  his  country.  Christian  ordered  A.D., 
the  fleet  to  get  under  sail,  and  steered  straight  1519. 
to  Denmark,  where  he  arrived  safe  with  the  hostages. 
The  king  perceiving  young  Gustavus  Yasa's  patriotic 
feelings  and  skill,  and,  therefore  apprehending  him, 
confined  him  immediately  in  prison  in  the  castle  of 
Jfirto,  in  Jutland,  from  which  this  noble  youth  at  a 
later  time  found  opportunity  to  escape,  and  to. gain 
a  considerable  number  of  adherents,  and  take  the  field 
against  the  generals  of  Christian. 

The  king,  whose  intention  it  was  now,  at  one  blow, 
to  bring  the  rebellious  Steno  Sture  to  subjection, 
equipped  a  powerful  armament,  and  commanded  his 
general,  the  brave  Otho  Krumpen,  to  march  a  nume- 
rous army  to  Sweden,  while  the  fleet  was  harassing  the 
coasts.  Steno  Sture  gave  battle  at  JBogesund,  A.  d., 
in  Visi-Gothland,  but  fell  into  an  ambush  laid  1520. 
for  him,  and  received  a  wound  of  which  he  soon  after 
died.  Sweden  was  now  left  without  a  head,  and  the 
Senate  fell  into  a  violent  dispute  about  a  successor, 
while  Christian  was  marching  unopposed  to  Stockholm, 
which  he  blockaded  on  the  sea  side.  After  being 
long  and  bravely  defended  by  the  heroic  Christine 
Gyldenstar,  Steno  Sture's  widow,  Stockholm  had  at 
last  to  yield  to  the  king,  who,  by  the  archbishop,  Gus- 


HISTOEY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  211 

tavus  Trolle,  was  proclaimed,  in  tKe  name  of  the  states, 
king  of  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Norway,,  and  crowned 
with  the  usual  ceremonies,  the  archbishop  of  Lund  and 
the  bishops  of  Roeskilde  and  Odensee  glorifying  the 
solemn  act  by  their  presence.  Although  he,  on  the 
day  of  his  coronation,  had  proclaimed  a  general  par- 
don of  the  offences  of  the  Swedish  people,  he  continued 
to  thirst  for  vengeance,  and  resolved,  if  possible,  to 
suffocate  in  blood  the  rebellious  spirit  in  Sweden,  and 
extirpate,  at  one  stroke,  all  the  Swedish  nobility,  in 
revenge  for  the  troubles  they  had  excited.  In  his 
meditated  schemes  the  king  got  an  adviser  in  Didrik 
Slaghak,  doctor  of  the  canon  law,  whom  Arcemboldus 
had  brought  along  with  him  to  Denmark,  and  who  had 
attained  a  very  great  degree  of  the  king's  favor  and 
esteem.  He  was  a  man  of  a  deep  and  subtle  reach,  and 
being  skilled  in  kindling  discontents,  he  insinuated 
himself  into  the  king's  mind  by  soothing  flatteries,  and 
8th  Nov.,  persuaded  him  to  use  the  papal  bull  as  an  in- 
A-  D>  strument  of  vengeance.  The  third  day  after 
1  the  crowning,  Christian  II.  invited  the  princi- 

pal senators  and  nobles  to  a  brilliant  entertainment,  in 
the  royal  palace  of  Stockholm,  and  bestowed  the  Order 
of  the  Elephant  on  a  great  number  of  the  German,  and 
Danish  nobility,  but  not  on  a  single  SAvede.  The  gates 
of  the  capital  were  locked,  the  streets  beset  with 
guards,  and  every  citizen,  under  pain  of  death,  forbid- 
den to  leave  his  house.     Amidst  the  most  unbounded 


212  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

festivity,  the  archbishop,  Gustavus  Trolle,  made  his 
entrance  into  the  great  saloon  of  the  palace,  the  Pope's 
bull  in  his  hand,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Church, 
demanded  satisfaction  for  the  usage  he  had  sustained. 
The  sentence  of  excommunication  was  read  aloud ;  the 
archbishop  concluded  his  crafty  oration  with  a  pathetic 
request  that  justice  might  be  granted  and  the  criminals 
punished.  The  king  now  ordered  his  guards  to  seize 
the  whole  senate  and  nobility  and  imprison  them,  and 
a  tribunal  was  erected  to  pass  sentence.  Jena  Anderson 
Beldenak,  bishop  of  Odensee,  being  the  only  Dane 
present,  now  interrogated,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  the 
rest  of  the  assembly,  whether  they,  who  had  opposed 
the  Pope  in  deposing  the  archbishop,  were  heretics  or 
not?  The  answer  being  in  the  affirmative,  the  king 
considered  it  a  sentence  of  death,  and  under  the  pre- 
tence of  extirpating  heresy  and  impiety,  he  ordered 
ninety-four  senators  and  a  great  number  of  the  nobility 
a,nd  the  clergy  to  be  beheaded  on  the  market-place  of 
Stockholm.  Christian  made  no  distinction  between 
friends  and  enemies,  the  better  to  convince  the 
people  that  he  acted  less  from  motives  of  vengeance 
than  obedience  to  the  Holy  See.  Only  to  signify  dis- 
pleasure, or  show  compassion,  cost  the  life.  A  citizen 
of  Stockholm  was  drawn  along  and  beheaded,  because 
he  shed  tears  over  these  dreadful  scenes.  Among 
those  who  were  the  victims  to  this  infernal  revenge, 
was  Erik  Vasa,  father  to  young  Gustavus  Yasa,  and 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  213 

nephew  to  the  former  Swedish  king,  Charles  Canutson. 
On  the  whole,  the  fortunes  and  the  lives  of  individuals 
were  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  cruel  king,  who  him- 
self witnessed  these  horrors  from  a  window  in  the 
palace.  The  whole  city  of  Stockholm  was  a  scene  of 
blood  and  heart-rending  calamities.  To  hold  out  yet 
more  distinctly  the  appearance  of  having  exercised,  not 
his  own  vengeance,  but  that  of  the  Church,  Christian 
II.  ordered  the  noble-minded  bishop,  Matthev)  of 
Strengnces,  and  bishop  Hemming  Gad,  of  Finland,  to 
be  beheaded;  while  the  subtle  Didrik  Slaghak,  who 
had  aided  him  in  carrying  out  the  Slaughter  of  Stock- 
holm (generally  called  so),  was  rewarded  with  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Lund.  Thus  having,  as  he  thought,  con- 
solidated his  supremacy  in  Sweden,  the  king  left  Stock- 
holm for  Denmark.  In  his  passage  from  Sweden,  in- 
stances of  Ins  cruelty  are  to  be  met  with.  Gibbets 
were  erected  wheresoever  he  passed  along,  and  the  in- 
human tyrant  ordered  even  the  mother  and  sister  of 
Gustavus  Yasa,  both  of  whom  he  had  long  confined  in 
prison,  together  with  five  monks  of  the  monastery  of 
Nydal,  to  be  sewed  up  in  a  great  sack  and  thrown  into 
the  sea.  The  abbot  found  means  to  escape  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  ruffians  employed  to  bind  him.  He  ran 
towards  the  river,  but  was  pursued  and  murdered  by 
the  king's  order,  before  he  could  save  himself  by  swim- 
ming. At  Jonkoping  he  caused  two  noblemen  to  be 
scourged  to  death,  and  the  Swedish  historian,  Lager- 


214  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

bring,  says,  "  Massacres  and  calamity  marked  the  way 
wheresoever  the  Danish  monarch  passed  along."  Some 
Swedish  writers  even  affirm  that,  not  content  with  the 
barbarous  revenge  taken  on  the  living,  the  king  ordered 
the  dead  body  of  Steno  Sture  to  be  dug  up,  and  divest- 
ing himself  of  humanity,  flew  like  a  wild  beast  upon  the 
corpse,  which  he  tore  and  mangled  with  his  teeth  and 
nails.  To  complete  the  measure  of  his  barbarity,  he 
ordered  the  widow  of  Steno  Sture,  Christine  Gyldenstar, 
to  be  brought  before  lum,  and  asked  her  whether  she 
chose  to  be  burned,  flayed,  or  buried  alive  \  His  savage 
intention  was,  however,  altered  by  the  strong  interest 
made  in  behalf  of  that  unfortunate  lady. 

But  the  despotism  and  cruelty  of  a  king  is  no  uncom- 
mon prelude  to  a  revolution,  which  now  took  place 
under  Christian  II.,  whose  cruelty  forever  dissolved  the 
bonds  between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  and  the  Union 
of  Calmar  was  irreparably  broken  by  the  Swedes,  who 
recovered  their  ancient  independence.  Young  Gustavus 
Erickson  Yasa  escaped  from  his  prison  in  Denmark  and 
from  Christian's  emissaries,  who  were  continually  at  his 
heels,  fled  disguised  to  Flensburgh  in  Schleswig,  where 
he  hired  himself  to  some  merchants,  under  whose  pro- 
tection he  escaped  out  from  the  Danish  territories,  and 
arrived  in  Liibeck,  where  the  regency  gave  him  a  ship 
to  convey  him  to  Sweden.  He  now  went  to  the  moun- 
tains of  Dalecarlia,  where  he,  for  some  time,  concealed 
himself,  in  the  disguise  of  a  workman,  in  the  mines. 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  215 

He  found  aid  and  protection  from  the  valiant  inhabi- 
tants of  Dalecarlia,  to  whom  he  opened  his  project  and 
disclosed  his  name  and  rank,  and  with  a  band  of  these 
hardy  peasants  he  repulsed  the  Danes  and  took  A.  D., 
Upsala.  After  being  elected,  at  the  Diet  of  l53*- 
Yadstena,  administrator  of  Sweden,  and  two  years 
after,  at  the  Diet  of  Strengnses,  king,  by  the  unanimous 

A.  D„    suffrages  of  his  fellow-citizens,  Gustavus  Vasa 

1523.  made  his  entry  into  Stockholm,  and  the  words 
"  Saviour  and  Deliverer,"  echoed  to  him  from  every 
quarter. 

Thus  Sweden  was  now  emancipated  from  Denmark, 
and  the  Union  of  Calmar  annihilated.  Norway  remained 
connected  with  Denmark  till  1814,  when  the  allied 
powers,  by  the  treaty  of  Kiel,  gave  it  to  Sweden,  as  an 
indemnity  for  Finland,  which  Kussia  had  taken.  Gus- 
tavus Vasa  reigned  in  peace  for  a  long  space  of  years, 
and  is  the  founder  of  the  celebrated  House  of  Vasa, 
which  has  given  Sweden  so  many  excellent  kings, 
amongst  whom  was  the  great  and  famous  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  who  made  foreign  nations  sensible  of  the 
weight  which  Sweden  might  have  in  the  affairs  of 
Europe. 

The  slaughter  of  Stockholm  had  produced  a  general 
astonishment  throughout  all  Europe,  and  had,  as  even 
two  bishops  had  been  beheaded,  exasperated  the  Pope 
to  such  a  degree,  that  he  sent  a  nuncio  to  Copenhagen, 
to  examine  into  the  death  of  the  bishops  who  had  been 


216  HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

massacred  at  Stockholm.  Christian  II.  treacherously 
threw  the  whole  blame  on  his  friend  Didrik  Slaghak, 
A.  D.  who  was  sentenced  to  be  beheaded  and  to  be 
1522.  burnt ;  which  sentence,  in  the  king's  justifica- 
tion, was  executed  in  the  market-place  of  Copenhagen ; 
after  which  the  imperious  and  arbitrary  king  appointed 
his  personal  attendant,  John  Veza,  archbishop  of  Lund. 
Christian's  outrageous  and  cruel  proceedings  had  pro- 
duced, even  in  the  minds  of  the  Danes,  the  greatest 
disgust  toward  him,  and  rendered  his  name  hateful. 
He  trampled  upon  all  law  and  government ;  he  endeav- 
ored, by  menaces,  to  extort  from  his  uncle,  Frederick, 
his  dukedom  of  Schloswig,  and  of  the  archbishopric  of 
Lund  he  disposed  at  pleasure.  The  number  of  the 
disaffected  increased,  therefore,  daily ;  and  the  Danish 
nobility,  exasperated  at  his  oppressions,  and  not  expect- 
ing any  good  from  him,  determined  to  risk  all,  rather 
than  tolerate  so  intolerable  a  yoke.  The  nobility  and 
clergy  of  all  Jutland  rose  in  one  general  revolt,  and 
wrote  a  formal  sentence  of  deposition,  which  they  trans- 
mitted to  the  king  in  Veile,  in  Jutland.  Mogens '  A.  D. 
Munk,  chief-justice  of  Jutland,  was  entrusted  1523. 
with  the  dangerous  commission  of  making  him  ac- 
quainted with  the  resolution.  He  dined  with  the  king, 
and,  after  dinner,  left  the  decree  in  a  glove  on  the  win- 
dow. It  had  not  lain  long  in  that  place,  before  the 
king,  observing  a  large  scroll  of  parchment,  ordered  it 
to  be  read,  and  no  sooner  perceived  the  contents  than 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  217 

he  ordered  search  to  be  made  for  Mogens  M.unh,  but 
that  nobleman  had  meanwhile  removed  himself  out  of 
the  reach  of  danger.  The  king  now  repaired  to  Copen- 
hagen. Although,  as  yet,  Copenhagen,  Malmo,  all 
Norway,  and  the  whole  peasantry  and  burgher  class 
were  loyal  to  him,  he  felt  discouraged  and  behaved  like 
a  coward,  as  he  had  reigned  like  a  tyrant.  Attended 
by  his  queen,  children,  and  Sigbrit,  the  mother  of  his 
concubine,  he  betook  himself  to  Holland,  where  he,  in 
vain,  solicited  assistance  from  his  brother-in-law,  the 
A.D.,    emperor  Charles  Y.    His  uncle,  Frederick,  duke 

1523.  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein,  was  now  offered  the 
throne  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  which  he  accepted 
without  any  hesitation.  Upon  his  return  from  Holland, 
Christian  II.,  however,  collected  an  army  to  invade 
Holstein  and  oppose  his  uncle,  but  his  troops  forsook 
him,  and  his  general,  Henry  Gjoe,  after  an  obstinate 

A.  D.,    defence  of  eight  months,  had  to  surrender  Copen- 

1524.  hagen  to  Frederick  I.  Nevertheless,  a  great 
part  of  Denmark  sided  yet  with  Christian  II.,  and  one 
of  his  most  faithful  adherents  was  the  noble  and  brave 
Soren  Norby,  a  general  of  consummate  ability  and  of 
indefatigable  activity.  In  Skane  he  collected  an  army 
of  twelve  thousand  men,  who,  however,  were  entirely 

A.D.,    cut    to  pieces   by  Frederick's  general,   John 

1525     Ranzau,  first  at  Lund,  and  then  at  Brunktoft- 

lund,  near  Landscrona,  and  Soren  Norby  was,  at  length, 

obliged  to  leave  the  country  and  flee  to  Kussia,  where 


218  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

he  was  imprisoned  by  the  Czar  Yasilius  Iwanowitch. 
Being  at  length  set  at  liberty,  he  entered  into  military 
service  under  Charles  Y.,  and  fell  at  the  siege  of 
Florence. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  disadvantages,  Christian  II. 
hoped  and  projected  to  regain  his  dominions,    A.D., 
and  went  now  to  Norway,  where  he  was  elected    1631. 
in  Opslo.     But  here  his  success  was  of  short  duration. 
Bishop   Canute  Gyldenstar  arrived   in  Norway  with 
troops,  and  Christian  had  to  submit.     Christian  II.  went 
now,  with  a  safe-conduct,  to  Copenhagen,  to  negotiate 
in  person  with  his  uncle,  Frederick  L,  but  anchoring  in 
the  harbor  of  Copenhagen,  he  was,  in  spite  of  the 
warrant  of  security  given  him  by  the  bishop,    A.D., 
taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  Sonderburg,  on    1532. 
the  island  of  Alsen,  in  the  Baltic,  where  he  was  com- 
pelled to  pine  for  seventeen  years  in  a  gloomy  tower, 
with  no  other  companion  than  a  Norwegian  dwarf. 
Frederick  I.  and  the  nobility  engaged  themselves,  re- 
ciprocally, never  to  release  him.     First  when  Christian 
III.  had  ascended  the  throne,  more  freedom  was    A.D., 
given  him ;  the  castle  of  Callundborg,  in  Sjel-    1549- 
land,  was  granted  to  him,  where  he,  under  continual 
inspection,  lived  ten  years,  till  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Frederick  II.  (1559).     His  body  was  brought 
to  the  church  of  St.  Canute,  in  Odensee.     He  left  be- 
hind him  two   daughters :  Dorothea,  married  to  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  and  Christina,  to  the  duke  of  Loth- 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  219 

ringen.  The  bad  use  Christian  II.  made  of  his  many 
great  qualities,  of  which  a  single  one  might  have  im- 
mortalized another  prince,  became  his  ruin,  and  he  left 
a  most  piteous  monument  of  the  effects  of  cruelty  and 
despotism,  exerted  over  a  free-spirited  and  warlike 
people. 

Immediately  after  the  downfall  of  Christian's  royalty 
A.D.,  Frederick  I.  ascended  the  throne  of  Denmark 
1528-33.  and  Norway.  On  mounting  the  throne  he  had 
to  sign  a  charter  containing  several  new  articles,  and  he 
was  to  be  declared  an  enemy  of  the  kingdoms,  and 
deprived  of  the  throne,  in  case  he  manifestly  violated 
his  engagements.  In  this  charter  it  was  determined, 
that  bishops  and  archbishops  should  be  of  noble  descent, 
and  that  the  king  should  patrocinate  the  Romish  Church, 
punish  all  Lutheran  heretics,  solemnly  promise  to  show 
a  deadly  emnity  to  the  dethroned  and  imprisoned  king, 
Christian  II.,  and  declare  Denmark  and  Norway  eleo* 
tive  kingdoms.  The  legislative  authority  was  to  be  in 
the  Diet,  which  should  consist  of  a  certain  number  of 
deputies,  chosen  amongst  the  nobility  and  the  clergy ; 
but  the  burgesses  could  not  be  invested  with  any  public 
office,  or  in  any  way  be  on  a  footing  of  equality  with 
the  nobility.  Finally,  the  king  could  not  declare  war 
or  conclude  peace  without  the  consent  of  the  nobility ; 
and  if  the  king  delayed  his  signature  to  laws  or  ordi- 
nances, sixteen  noblemen  should  be  empowered  to  supply 
the  want  of  it,  and  sign  for  him. 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

Except  Copenhagen  and  Malmo,  which  still  adhered 
to  the  dethroned  king,  and  for  eight  months  gallantly 
bore  up  against  the  royal  troops,  until  all  hope  of  assist- 
ance was  gone,  both  Denmark  and  Norway  proclaimed 
Frederick  I.  king,  with  the  usual  formalities.  Besides 
having  an  able  and  courageous  general  in  John  Kanzau, 
Frederick  I.  was  energetically  assisted  by  Liibeck,  be- 
cause he  had  restored  to  that  city  the  commercial  privi- 
leges of  which  Christian  II.  had  deprived  it.  Frede- 
rick I.  of  course  could  not  see  Gustavus  Yasa  raised  to 
the  throne  of  Sweden  but  with  an  eye  of  jealousy ;  he 
eagerly  wished,  from  motives  of  ambition  and  interest, 
to  see  the  three  kingdoms  reunited,  and  with  that  view 
he  wrote  to  some  of  the  chief  nobility  of  Sweden.  But 
the  answer  he  received  was  not  agreeable  to  his  wishes, 
the  Swedes  being  no  longer  in  a  disposition  to  give  ear 
to  such  hopes.  "  The  Union  of  Calmar,"  wrote  they, 
"  had  more  than  once  proved  fatal  to  their  liberties, 
which  they  now  enjoyed  with  the  greatest  felicity, 
under  a  king  possessed  of  every  quality  which  could 
engage  their  affection."  Frederick  I.,  comprehending 
that  there  was  no  hope  for  him  in  this  respect,  A.D., 
made,  at  Malmo,  a  strict  alliance  with  Gustavus  !524. 
Yasa  against  their  common  enemy,  Christian  II. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  dethroned  king 
to  promote  the  Reformation  had  almost  proved  fruit- 
less, yet  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  deeply  felt 
the  necessity  of  embracing  the  new  religious  principles, 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  221 

which  day  by  day  were  advancing  in  strength  in  Ger- 
many, and  thence  easily  propagated  to  the  Scandina- 
vian countries  by  the  young  students  who  pursued  their 
studies  at  Wittemberg,  and  other  German  Universities. 
The  people's  mind  had  grown  weary  of  the  bondage  of 
spiritual  despotism  which  the  Popes  had  established, 
and  a  doctrine  adulterated  and  tricked  out  with  false 
additions,  was  not  more  satisfactory  to  the  religious 
want.  The  fear  of  God  consisted  in  external  ecclesias- 
tical actions,  and  remission  of  sins  might  be  had  for 
money  from  the  seller  of  indulgences.  The  public 
worship  was  conducted  in  Latin,  and  the  people  were 
not  permitted  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular 
tongue.  The  ministerial  order  did  not  enjoy  any 
esteem  or  love,  and  the  lower  ranks  of  the  clergy  made 
themselves  despicable  by  their  ignorance,  drunkenness, 
and  excesses  in  indulging  in  concubinage.  The  higher 
ranks  of  the  clergy,  enjoying  at  ease  their  rich  revenues, 
were  neglectful  of  their  duties,  which  very  often  were 
discharged  not  by  themselves  but  by  their  vicars. 
Many  curateships  were 'often  conferred  on  one  curate 
to  enlarge  the  revenues,  the  bishops  even  causing  the 
curateships  to  be  vacant  through  a  whole  series  of 
years,  in  order  thereby  to  arrogate  the  incomes  to 
themselves.  The  avarice  and  extortions  of  the  bishops 
were  excessive  almost  to  a  proverb  ;  their  wealth  was, 
therefore,  often  exorbitant,  and  their  power  and  privi- 
leges enormous.    All  church  property  was  exempt  from 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

taxation,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  laity  were  loaded 
with  excessive  impositions.  All  clergymen  were  ex- 
empted from  criminal  process  in  the  courts  of  law,  and 
delivered  over  to  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  so  that  the 
Church  alone  took  cognizance  of  the  crime.  Different 
orders  of  lazy  monks,  Augustinian,  JFranci8ciany  and 
Dominican  friars,  who  already  during  the  reign  of 
Waldemar  the  Conqueror  had  crept  into  the  country, 
rambled  about  and  made  considerable  profit  from  the 
sale  of  indulgences,  performing  their  mean-spirited  acts 
with  little  regard  to  discretion  or  decency,  and  describ- 
ing the  value  of  the  indulgences  in  such  a  disgusting 
and  blasphemous  style  of  exaggeration,  that  even  the 
ignorant  began  to  suspect  the  worth  of  the  remission  of 
sins  dispensed  by  them ;  all  of  which  gathered  into  a 
heap,  prepared  the  minds  of  the  people  willingly  to 
listen  to  the  bold  attacks  of  Luther  and  the  other  great 
Reformers  against  all  these  outrageous  and  unchristian 
acts.  Even  the  nobility  were  in  favor  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, hoping  thereby  to  re-obtain  the  great  property 
that  their  ancestors  had  bestowed  upon  the  Church ; 
and  the  kings  could  not  but  wish  the  liberal  principles 
of  the  Reformation  introduced  into  their  countries, 
which  would  not  fail  to  lessen  the  exorbitant  power 
and  influence  of  the  bishops. 

All  these  causes  were  adequate  to  the  effects  attributed 
to  them,  and  the  Lutheran  doctrine  and  form  of  wor- 
ship gained,  therefore,  very  soon  a  complete  triumph 


HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

in  the  three  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  and  already  in  the 
year  1527,  the  magnanimous  Gustavus  Yasa  obtained 
from  an  assembly  of  the  state  the  declaration,  that  the 
Lutheran  doctrines  should  be  the  established  religion  of 
Sweden.  Frederick  Z,  who  previous  to  his  ascending 
the  throne  had  secretly  embraced  the  Protestant  faith, 
concurred  -with  Gustavus  Yasa  in  the  design,  and 
although  wanting  his  spirit  and  genius,  he  conducted 
the  religious  affairs  of  Denmark  and  Norway  with 
more  prudence  and  sagacity  than  was  to  be  expected. 
The  clergy  now  lost  the  greater  part  of  their  posses- 
sions to  the  crown  and  the  nobility,  and  the  bishops 
(whose  titles,  however,  were  retained  in  all  three  Scan- 
dinavian kingdoms,  Sweden  even  keeping  the  title  of 
archbishop,)  fell  almost  into  a  complete  dependence 
upon  the  government,  their  large  revenues  and  eccle- 
siastical jurisdictions  being  considerably  retrenched  and 
curtailed. 

Next  to  Switzerland,  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms 
were  the  first  of  the  European  countries  that  embraced 
Lutheranism ;  and  in  Denmark,  Hems  Tausen,  whose 
parents  were  only  poor  peasants,  became  the  most  im- 
portant instrument  in  spreading  the  Protestant  faith. 
While  a  monk  in  the  cloister  of  Antvorslkov,  in  Sjel- 
land,  he  won  the  prior's  favor  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
allowed  Tausen  to  go  abroad  at  the  expense  of  the 
cloister.  Luther's  renown  brought  him  to  "Wittemberg, 
where,  on  hearing  his  preaching,  he  became  convinced 


224:  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

of  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  Luther  proclaimed.  No 
sooner  had  the  prior  heard  it  than  he  suddenly  recalled 
him  from  "Wittemberg,  and  committed  him  to  the  cus- 
tody of  the  abbot  of  the  cloister.  The  following  year 
he  was  sent  to  Wiborg,  in  Jutland,  where  the  prior  of 
the  cloister  of  the  Hospitalers  (the  Knights  of  St.  John) 
promised  to  keep  a  strict  eye  upon  him.  He  was,  how- 
ever, permitted  to  preach,  and  interested  the  citizens  of 
"Wiborg  so  much  that  they  not  only  gave  him  asylum 
in  the  city,  but  even  protected  him  against  several 
attempts  of  the  bishop,  George  Friis,  to  lay  ad., 
hold  on  his  person.  Frederick  Z,  being  1526. 
secretly  a  convert  to  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  and  by 
whose  protection  Herman  Tast  already  had  spread  the 
Reformation  throughout  the  Duchies,  (1522-1525,) 
interested  himself  for  Hans  Tausen,  issuing  a  warrant 
of  security  for  him,  and  licensing  him  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  "Wiborg.  At  the  same  time  George  Sadolin, 
also  a  hearer  of  Luther  in  Wittemberg,  appeared,  a 
mighty  champion  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  new 
doctrine  soon  found  advocates  and  adherents  in  other 
cities,  particularly  in  Malmo,  where  two  unlearned  but 
highly  gifted  and  eloquent  men,  Glaus  Mortenson  Ton- 
debinder  (cooper),  and  Ham  Spandmayer  (pail-maker), 
assisted  by  the  learned  Franz  Wormordson,  rose  as 
undaunted  proclaimers  of  the  Reformation,  and  invet- 
erate enemies  of  the  Pope's  jurisdiction,  and  of  his 
sellers  of  indulgencies.    But  the  circumstance  which, 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  225 

of  all  others,  most  conduced  to  the  advancement  and 
universal  dissemination  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation, 
was  the  excellent  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  the  ex-mayor  of  Malmo,  John  Michaelson,  who 
had  accompanied  Christian  II.  in  his  exile,  published  in 
Leipzic,  and  which  by  foreign  merchants  was  brought 
to  Denmark.  This  translation  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
people  to  the  papal  deviations  from  the  evangelical 
truth,  and  gave  security  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
Reformation  in  the  North ;  and  now  it  profited  nothing 
that  the  bishops  forbade  the  use  of  this  dangerous 
book,  as  they  termed  it.  A  mean  fellow,  Paul  Eliason, 
a  Carmelite  from  the  cloister  of  Elsinore,  who  had  em- 
braced Lutheranism,  but  soon  again  changed  color,  and 
was,  therefore,  called  Paul  Vendekadbe  (turncoat),  ram- 
bled about  in  the  country  and  preached  violently  against 
the  new  doctrine ;  but  he  performed  as  little  by  his  de- 
nunciatory sermons  as  the  bishops  by  their  fulminating 
pastoral  letters,  which  they  dispatched  to  their  dioceses* 
The  difficult  position  of  the  Catholic  clergy  increased 
also  very  much  by  the  dispute  about  tithe,  which  the 
people  decidedly  declined  paying ;  and  the  controversies 
were  increasing  day  by  day,  and  internal  disturbances 
would  undoubtedly  have  broken  out,  had  not  both  the 
king  and  the  nobility  feared  the  exiled  Christian  II., 
and,  therefore,  moderated  themselves.  It  came,  there- 
fore, to  a  sort  of  agreement,  when  Frederick  I.,  af- 
ter  great  opposition,  effected   the  publication   of    a 


226  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

^^'    famous  edict,  sanctioned  at  the  general  Diet  of 
Odensee,  by  which  every  subject  of  Denmark  and  Nor- 
way was  declared  free  to  adhere  either  to  the  tenets  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  or  to  the  doctrines  of  Luther ; 
that  no  person  should  be  molested  on  account  of  his 
religion,  and  that  the  clergy  should  be  permitted  to 
marry ;  all  of  which  contributed  considerably  to  pro- 
mote the  Reformation,  the  adherents  to  which  were 
daily  increasing,  both  in  the  country  and  in  the  towns. 
In  consequence  of  this  decree  of  the  Diet,  all  abbeys 
and  cloisters  were  deserted,  and  celibacy  in  particular 
disregarded.     Lutheranism  was  publicly  preached  and 
embraced.     At  last  the  city  of  Malmo   erected  the 
standard  of  Luther,  prohibited  mass,  idols,  and  the 
other  superstitions  of  the  Romish  Church.    Also  a  new 
and  more  literal  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  Psalms  of  David  into  the  vernacular  tongue,  pub- 
lished by  a  canonist,  Christen  Pedersen,  likewise  one 
of  the  guides  of  the  exiled  king,  conduced  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  this  important  matter.     Hans  Tausen, 
who  now  had  established  the  Reformation  in  "Wiborg, 
was  by  the  king  called  to  Copenhagen  to  preach  a.  D., 
the  new  doctrine.     Finding  a  better  spirit  than     1529. 
Reinhardt  and  Carlstadt  eight  years  before  had  found, 
he  soon  gained  the  majority  of  the  citizens  of  the  cap- 
ital over  to  the  new  doctrine,  the  Reformation  thus 
having  gained  a  firm  footing  in  the  three  most  impor- 
tant cities:   Copenhagen,  Wiborg,  and  Malmo.     The 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  227 

bishops  excited  an  alarm,  but  could  obtain  nothing  more 
than  that  the  affairs  of  religion  should  receive  farther 
regulation  at  the  next  general  Diet. 

But  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  at  this  time  assembled  in 
Germany  to  try  the  great  cause  of  the  Eeformation, 
and  expected  to  result  in  condemning  the  doctrines  of 
the  Protestants,  as  they  were  termed  since  the  year 
1529,  was,  by  the  Catholics  in  Denmark  considered  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  oppress  their  opponents.  No 
reconciliation,  however,  of  the  opposing  opinions  being 
effected  in  Augsburg,  the  prelates  prevailed,  therefore, 
A.  D.,  upon  the  king  to  convoke  a  Diet  in  Copenhagen, 
1530.  that  the  new  doctrines  might  be  debated,  and, 
as  the  Catholics  hoped,  thoroughly  condemned.  But 
the  Protestants  displayed  great  power  and  firmness  at 
the  Diet.  They  gave  in  their  Confession  of  Faith,  con- 
sisting of  forty-three  articles,  stirred  up  the  people  by 
ardent  sermons,  and  above  all,  inveighed  bitterly  against 
the  traffic  in  indulgencies,  and  the  worship  of  images. 
The  Catholics  tried  in  vain  to  refute  the  Protestant 
Confession  of  Faith,  but  their  attempt  occasioned  a 
defence  in  writing  from  the  Protestants,  accompanied 
by  a  vehement  complaint  of  the  bad  administration  and 
gross  immorality  of  the  clergy.  The  bishops  now  re- 
minded the  king  repeatedly  of  his  promise  to  defend 
the  Catholic  doctrine,  but  without  avail.  The  discus- 
sions were  carried  on  in  the  Danish  language ;  but  the 
Catholics,  missing  thereby  the  help  they  had  expected 


228  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

from  their  pleader,  Dr.  Stagefyhr,  whom  they  had 
called  in  from  Germany,  required  the  use  of  the  Latin 
language.  But  this  the  Protestants  would  not  grant,  as 
they  thereby  would  lose  the  important  assistance  which 
they  hitherto  had  had  from  the  commonalty.  At  length 
the  Diet  dissolved  without  having  accommodated  the 
differing  points ;  the  king  declaring  that  he  would  pro- 
tect both  parties  in  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  but 
that  neither  party  should  be  allowed  to  seek  proselytes 
at  the  expense  of  the  other. 

However  trifling  the  result  of  this  Diet  of  Copenhagen 
may  seem  to  be,  yet  it  was  a  clear  gain  for  the  Protest- 
ants, whose  doctrines  soon  began  to  prevail  in  all  the 
cities  of  J:he  kingdom,  and  to  show  the  Catholic  bishops 
that  the  end  of  the  mighty  power,  which  they  long  had 
wielded,  was  fast  approaching.  But  this  was  not  pass- 
ing without  great  tumults  and  violence.  The  monks 
particularly,  exposed  to  great  persecution,  were  often  so 
teased  and  vexed  that  they  left  their  cloisters.  In 
Copenhagen,  the  citizens,  headed  by  the  mayor  a.  D., 
of  the  city,  Amhrosius  Bookbinder,  broke,  on  1530. 
the  27th  of  December,  into  Our  Lady's  church,  causing 
great  devastation,  and  cutting  to  pieces  all  the  images 
of  the  saints ;  and  the  Catholic  clergy,  were,  just  now, 
less  able  to  make  sufficient  resistance.  Their  chief,  the 
archbishop  Aage  Spcvrre,  was  not  acknowledged  by  the 
Pope;  Jens  Andersen  Beldendk,  bishop  of  Odensee, 
who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  present  at  the  slaughter 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  229 

of  Stockholm,  was,  at  the  Diet  of  Copenhagen,  dis- 
graced with  a  mark  of  infamy,  for  having  used  inju- 
rious language  against  the  king ;  George  JFrus,  bishop 
of  Wiborg,  was,  for  a  violation  of  his  duty,  excommu- 
nicated by  the  Pope ;  Laga  Urne,  bishop  of  Roeskilde, 
the  most  undaunted  champion  of  Catholicism,  had  ex- 
pired a  year  before  the  Diet  of  Copenhagen,  and  his 
successor,  Joachim  Rowtww^  was  consecrated,  upon 
condition  that  he  would  not  impede  the  spreading  of 
the  Reformation  in  his  diocese.  The  Catholic  affairs 
were  thus  considerably  on  the  decline,  and  the  Protest- 
ant faith  commenced  to  get  a  permanent  footing  in 
April  13,  Denmark  and  Norway.  It  was  three  years 
A.  D.,  after  these  important  events,  that  Frederick 
1533.  I.?  who  had  openly  avowed  himself  a  Protest- 
ant, died  at  Gottorp,  close  by  the  city  of  Schleswig, 
where  he  frequently  resided,  and  lies  buried.  He  is 
not  mentioned  by  historians  in  language  of  eulogy,  but 
in  general  considered  deficient  in  moral  force  and  clear 
judgment.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  he 
conducted  the  religious  affairs  of  his  kingdom  with  much 
greater  prudence  than  his  more  talented  predecessor, 
Christian  II.,  but  whether  he  was  a  sincere  favorer  of 
the  Reformation,  or  not,  is  very  questionable,  the  more 
as  he  seems  to  have  temporized  with  both  parties.  At 
all  events,  his  religious  opinions  were  dim  and  be- 
nighted. He  knew  the  words  of  Christ,  Matthew  ix. 
15  :  "  The  devil  departs  not  out  of  a  man  but  by  prayer 


230  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

and  fasting."  Being  prompt  in  compliance  with  them, 
but  not  finding  it  convenient  or  comfortable  to  fast 
himself,  the  king  hired  seven  boys  to  fast  in  his  place, 
believing  thereby  to  have  done  justice  to  the  words  of 
the  Saviour.  The  Roman  Catholics  detest,  of  course, 
his  memory,  to  this  day,  for  having  contributed  to 
effect  a  reformation  in  religion,  to  the  utter  extinction 
of  their  tyrannical  superstition  and  spiritual  power. 
Frederick  I.  left  behind  him  two  sons,  Christian  and 
Hans,  and  one  daughter,  married  to  the  duke  Ulrick, 
of  Schwerin. 

Upon  the  death  of  Frederick  I.,  an  interregnum  fol- 
lowed of  three  years,  accompanied  by  a  sanguinary  war. 
At  a  general  Diet  assembled  in  Copenhagen  in  June  24, 
order  to  deliberate  on  the  election  of  a  king,  A.  D., 
the  nobility  would  select  Christian,  Fred-  1533. 
erick's  eldest  son,  but  the  clergy,  entertaining  fear  of 
him  who  had  been  a  hearer  of  Luther  in  Wittemberg, 
and  was  in  favor  of  the  Reformation,  voted  for  his 
younger  brother,  Hans,  whom  they  hoped  to  bring  up 
in  the  Catholic  faith.  A  third  party  were  for  recalling 
the  imprisoned  king,  but  this  faction  was  yet  small, 
and  partly  absorbed  in  the  two  others.  !Not  being  able 
to  agree,  the  election  of  the  king  was  postponed  to  the 
following  year,  in  order  that  the  senators  of  Norway 
might  be  assembled,  and  the  same  king  seated  on  the 
throne  of  both  kingdoms.  The  Catholic  party  now 
beginning  to  recover  their  courage,  passed  several  reso- 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  231 

lutions  tending  to  stop  the  spreading  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. It  was  determined  that  no  priest  conld  be 
appointed  in  any  diocese  without  the  consent  of  the 
bishop,  that  the  mass  should  be  re-established,  and  the 
existing  monasteries  and  ecclesiastical  institutions  con- 
tinue uninjured.  Hans  Tausen,  the  most  dangerous 
opposer  of  the  Catholic  church,  was  charged  with 
offensive  language  against  the  bishops,  and  sentenced 
to  leave  the  diocese  of  Sjelland,  and  nowhere  in  the 
kingdoms,  either  verbally  or  in  writing,  to  interfere 
with  religious  affairs.  The  condemnation  of  the  uni- 
versally esteemed  Hans  Tausen,  occasioned  a  great  riot 
in  Copenhagen,  the  bishop  Joachim  Eonnow  even  run- 
ning the  hazard  of  being  mobbed  by  the  exasperated 
citizens.  Tausen,  however,  left  Copenhagen,  but  Ron- 
now  had,  for  fear  of  his  own  life,  to  permit  him  to 
return. 

The  burgher  class  and  the  peasantry,  not  having  yet 
forgotten  the  imprisoned  king,  Christian  II.,  who  so 
valiantly  had  taken  their  part,  began,  while  the  nobility 
and  the  clergy  were  at  variance  concerning  the  election 
of  the  king,  to  think  of  restoring  him  to  the  crown  ; 
the  regency  of  Lubeck,  which  hitherto  had  opposed 
him,  but  was  now  displeased  with  some  commercial 
liberties  granted  to  the  Dutch,  also  projected  the  resto- 
ration of  the  imprisoned  king,  and  Denmark  was  in  the 
most  perilous  and  distracted  condition.  Lubeck  was 
governed  by  two  talented  men,  the   mayor,    George 


232  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

WuUenveber,  and  the  admiral,  Marc  Meyer,  who  from 
an  obscure  birth  had  risen  to  the  highest  dignities  in 
Liibeck.  Both  of  them  made  an  alliance  with  Arribro- 
sius  Bookbinder,  Mayor  of  Copenhagen,  and  with 
George  Munter,  mayor  of  Malmo,  declaring  their  object 
to  be  to  replace  Christian  II.  upon  the  throne,  and  to 
introduce  the  Reformation.  They  complained  that 
Christian  II.  was  confined,  contrary  to  the  faith  of  a 
treaty  and  to  the  safe-conduct  granted  him  by  Frede- 
rick's general,  Canute  Gyldenstar.  Upon  receiving  in- 
telligence of  this  design,  the  senate  renewed  the  alli- 
ance with  Gustavus  Yasa,  and  concluded  a  union  be- 
tween Denmark  and  the  Duchies,  in  order  to  deter 
their  enemies  from  attempting  the  restoration  of  the 
imprisoned  king,  but  without  effect.  The  regency  of 
Liibeck  and  the  popular  party  appointed  Count  Chris- 
topher of  Oldenburg,  a  relative  to  Christian  II.,  com- 
mander-in-chief, after  whom  the  whole  war  is  called 
Grevens  Feide  (the  War  of  the  Count).  He  was  a 
nobleman  of  great  courage,  fond  of  glory,  of  a  most 
enterprising  disposition,  and  deeply  interested  in  releas- 
ing the  imprisoned  king.  He  landed  troops  in  Sjelland, 
and  by  assistance  of  the  citizens  made  himself  master 
of  Copenhagen  and  Malmo ;  all  Skane,  Sjelland,  Fjunen, 
and  the  adjacent  islands  yielded  within  a  short  time, 
and  paid  their  homage  to  Christian  II.,  who,  on  hearing 
what  was  passing  in  his  favor,  exulted  for  joy,  crying : 
"  May  be  the  crown  can  be  replaced  upon  my  head  ; 
then  once  more  I  shall  teach  the  nobility  how  to  obey." 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  233 

The  most  horrible  outrages  were  committed  on  the  no- 
blemen, who  were  filled  with  astonishment  at  the  arbi- 
trary manner  in  which  they  were  treated,  and  with  fear 
of  the  imprisoned  king's  reassuming  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment. To  put  a  stop,  if  possible,  to  these  terrible 
scenes,  the  nobility  and  bishops  of  Jutland  resolved  to 
meet  for  the  election  of  a  sovereign.  Holstein  took  the 
same  resolution,  and  they  assembled  in  a  small  town, 
June  4th,  called  Rye,  by  the  city  of  Skanderborg, 
A.D.,  where  they  elected  the  eldest  son  of  Frederick 
1534.  I.?  Prince  Christian,  king,  and  committed  to 
him  the  charge  of  the  war,  and  transferred  to  him  the 
whole  military  and  executive  power  of  the  crown.  He 
immediately  laid  hold  of  the  offer,  ascended  the  throne 
of  Denmark  and  Norway,  and  was  crowned  in  Horsens, 
Jutland,  by  the  name  of  Christian  III.  Troops  were 
now  levied  with  the  utmost  industry  and  alacrity,  arms 
provided,  and  all  military  stores  furnished  from  the 
royal  magazines  of  Jutland.  Then  Christian  III. 
complained  to  Gustavus  Yasa,  his  brother-in-law,  of 
the  irregular  conduct  of  the  Liibeckers,  in  order  to  ex- 
hort him  to  enter  Skane  with  a  force  sufficient  to  wrest 
that  province  out  of  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  re- 
annex  it  to  Denmark.  But  these  measures  to  affright 
the  rebels  had  not  the  effect  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended, but  cemented  yet  more  the  alliance  between  the 
regency  of  Liibeck  and  the  popular  party,  which, 
alarmed  by  the  preparations  of  the  king,  transferred 
their  arms  to  Jutland,  which  now  for  a  while  became 


234  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

the  theatre  of  a  bloody  war.  Shipper  Clement,  an  ad- 
herent of  the  imprisoned  king  and  of  Count  Christo- 
pher of  Oldenburg,  went  to  Jutland,  where  he  brought 
the  peasantry  together,  took  the  city  of  Aalborg,  and 
defeated  the  nobility  and  the  royal  troops.  Christian 
III.,  informed  of  it,  marched  immediately  an  army  into 
North  Jutland,  under  the  command  of  the  celebrated 
general  John  Ranzaw.  The  royal  cause  was  supported 
by  all  the  nobility,  and  by  a  great  portion  of  men  of 
landed  property  in  Jutland,  and  by  all  the  members  of 
the  clergy.  The  first  military  operations  were  favora- 
ble to  the  king.  Rantzau  took  possession  of  Aalborg, 
where  a  great  carnage  took  place ;  the  peasants  were 
forced  to  submit,  and  Clement,  who  escaped  out  of  the 
battle,  was  afterwards  taken  prisoner  and  beheaded. 
His  head  was  fixed  on  a  stake  in  the  market-place,  and 
crowned  in  derision  with  a  leaden  crown,  on  account  of 
his  insolence  in  defending  the  imprisoned  king.  In 
Skane  and  Halland  Christian  III.  was  aided  by  the 
noble  Gustavus  Vasa,  who  of  course  did  not  wish  the 
cause  of  the  imprisoned  king  to  succeed  at  all.  Gus- 
tavus Yasa  gained  a  complete  victory  at  Hel-  A.D., 
singborg,  in  Skane  over  the  Count  of  Olden-  1535. 
burg  and  the  forces  of  Liibeck,  and  Marc  Meyer  was 
taken  prisoner.  About  the  same  time  the  brave  and 
undaunted  John  Eantzau  brought  the  whole  island  of 
Fjunen  under  subjection,  in  the  celebrated  bat-  A.D., 
tie  of  Oxebjerg  (Oxen  Hill),  where  an  old  cler-  1535. 
gyman,  Hans  Macron,  a  beautiful  model  of  the  most 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  235 

exalted  and  virtuous  patriotism,  arrived  half  naked  and 
barefooted  from  the  hostile  camp,  disclosing  to  Rantzau 
the  plans  of  the  enemy,  which  contributed  considerably 
to  the  happy  issue  of  the  battle.  A  great  number  of 
soldiers  and  officers  were  killed  or  taken  prisoners,  and 
among  the  latter  the  old  archbishop  of  Upsala,  Gusta- 
vus  Trolle,  who  again  had  proceeded  on  the  stage  to 
operate  in  favor  of  the  imprisoned  king. 

Meanwhile  the  royal  cause  had  also  met  with  great 
successes  from  the  military  abilities  of  the  brave  old 
admiral,  Peter  Skram,  surnamed  Danmarks  Vbvehals 
(the  Desperado  of  Denmark),  who  won  a  glorious  vic- 
tory at  the  island  of  Bornholm  over  the  Liibeck  fleet, 
and  cleared  the  Baltic,  so  that  John  Rantzau  could  pass 
over  to  Sjelland  and  lay  siege  to  Copenhagen,  where 
Ambrosius  Bookbinder  was  yet  defending  the  cause  of 
the  imprisoned  king.  Also  the  Southern  part  of  Nor- 
way submitted  to  Christian  III. ;  and  the  archbishop  of 
Drontheim,  Olaf  Engelbrechtson  Zunge,  who  in  the 
Northern  part  maintained  the  cause  of  Christian  II., 
had  to  flee  from  the  kingdom  to  Holland,  where  he  died. 

Thus  all  the  schemes  of  the  popular  party  beginning 
to  prove  abortive,  Albrecht  of  MecMeiiburg,  who  was 
married  to  a  niece  of  the  imprisoned  king,  was  appoint- 
ed lieutenant-colonel  to  assist  the  chief-commander, 
Count  Christopher.  But  this,  however,  did  not  alter 
the  circumstances,  which  day  by  day  turned  so  much  to 
their  disadvantage,  that  they  soon  found  it  necessary  to 
solicit  terms  of  peace.    Deputies  now  met  at  Hamburg, 


236  IIISTOEY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

and  ordained,  that  hostilities  should  cease  between  Den- 
mark and  Liibeck,  and  that  their  ancient  friendship 
should  be  renewed,  upon  condition  that  the  island  of 
Bornholm  should  be  ceded  to  the  regency  of  Liibeck 
for  the  space  of  fifty  years.  Christian  III.  acceded 
readily  to  this  peace.  Only  Copenhagen  and  Malmo 
were  yet  faithful  to  the  cause  of  the  imprisoned  king. 
At  length  George  Miinter  surrendered  Malmo  after  a 
long  siege,  but  Copenhagen  held  out  constantly  a  whole 
year,  until  the  famine,  which  reached  such  a  degree 
that  the  inhabitants  were  reduced  to  such  straits  that 
dogs,  cats,  rats,  and  the  most  loathsome  ani-  July  29, 
mals  were  used  as  food,  compelled  Ambrosius  A-D., 
Bookbinder  to  surrender  the  capital  to  Chris-  !636. 
tian  III.  Albrecht  of  Mecklenburg  and  Count  Chris- 
topher of  Oldenburg  were  forced  to  throw  themselves 
at  the  king's  feet  to  obtain  pardon.  A  few  of  the  most 
stubborn  ringleaders  were  beheaded,  but  the  great  body 
of  the  revolters  were  conciliated  by  an  act  of  amnesty. 
The  intellectual  excitement  occasioned  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Reformation,  exercised  a  useful  influence 
upon  the  improvement  of  the  Scandinavian  literature, 
which,  as  well  as  all  progress  of  literature,  was  highly 
favored  by  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  fostered  by  the 
Reformation.  In  the  last  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages 
there  was  less  scientific  activity  than  before ;  historians, 
as  Saxo  Grammaticus,  Snorro  Sturleson,  and  Andrew 
Suneson,  appeared  no  more,  and  the  fatherland's  his- 
tory was  only  told  in  brief  chronicles  and  dry  annals, 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  237 

mostly  written  by  monks  in  corrupt  Latin.  At  the 
foreign  universities — -Paris,  Bologna,  Cologne,  and 
Loven — where  young  men  pursued  their  studies  even 
after  the  erection  of  the  universities  of  Copenhagen 
and  Upsala,  only  the  canon  law  and  scholastic  philoso- 
phy were  taught.  But  the  Reformation,  rightly  called 
the  great  genius  of  all  genuine  liberty,  emancipated 
the  human  mind  from  the  thraldom  which  ages  of 
spiritual  despotism  had  imposed  upon  it,  discarded  the 
subtleties  of  the  schools,  and  sent  science  and  the  arts 
forth  into  the  wide  world  of  humanity.  Only  a  few 
ecclesiastics  cultivated  medicine.  Henry  Harpestreng, 
canon  in  Roeskilde,  composed  in  the  thirteenth  century 
a  remarkable  medical  work  in  Danish,  yet  extant. 
Danish  writings  were  also  very  rare,  everything  being 
recorded  in  Latin.  King  Olqf,  Margarethe's  son,  highly 
disliking  this  putting  aside  the  mother  tongue,  enjoined 
that  public  documents  should  be  issued  in  the  Danish 
language ;  but,  however,  Latin  continued  to  prevail. 
German  merchants  and  mechanics  settled  in  almost  all 
cities  of  the  country ;  German  noblemen  emigrated  in 
multitudes  from  Holstein  and  other  German  countries, 
and  except  king  Hans  and  Christian  II,  all  the  kings 
of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  were  Germans, 
not  so  much  as  able  to  speak  Danish  with  their  subjects. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  Danish  language  was 
more  and  more  depraved ;  German  words  and  phrases 
crept  into  it,  and  the  original  phrases  and  forms  of  ex- 
pression disappeared. 


238  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

But  the  Reformation,  that  great  principle  of  Christian 
liberty  which  restored  to  every  mother  tongue  its  rights, 
and  the  progress  of  the  art  of  printing,  which  now  also 
had  become  known  in  Scandinavia,  arrested  the  ap- 
proaching dissolution  of  the  Danish  language.  The 
Bible  was  now  translated  into  Danish,  and  Danish  books 
were  published.  John  Snett,  a  traveling  printer,  was 
the  very  first  who  in  Denmark  printed  a  Latin  book, 
published  in  Odensee,  in  the  year  1482.  The  very  first 
printing  office  was  established  by  Gotfred  of  Ghemen 
in  Copenhagen,  where,  in  the  year  1495,  the  first  Danish 
book  was  printed  and  published,  by  the  name  of  The 
Danish  Rhyme  Chronicle,  i.  e.,  The  Danish  History 
put  into  Rhyme ;  which,  during  the  reign  of  Christian 
I.,  was  composed  by  the  Abbot  of  Soro,  Nicolaus.  But 
none  has  rendered  himself  more  eminent  in  regenerat- 
ing the  language  than  Christen  Petersen,  above  men- 
tioned, who  not  only  during  his  exile  published  a  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  and  of  the  Psalms  of 
David,  but  even  upon  his  return  to  Denmark  continued 
to  enrich  the  literature  with  several  literary  works,  all 
excelling  in  a  pure  and  elegant  style.  Peter  Zolle, 
also,  who  collected  the  heroic  songs  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  the  old  Danish  sayings,  has  distinguished  himself 
by  the  purity  and  splendor  of  his  style. 

The  morality  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  not  but  suffer 
by  the  degeneracy  of  religion  and  by  the  increasing 
corruption.  The  scandal  of  the  crimes  committed  by 
many  of  the  ecclesiastics,  was  increased  by  the  facility 


HISTOET   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  239 

with  which  such  as  committed  them  obtained  pardon. 
A  bishop,  for  instance,  might  assassinate  for  a  small 
sum  of  money.  Any  clergyman  might  violate  his  vows 
of  chastity  likewise  for  a  little  money ;  and  it  is,  on 
the  whole,  easier  to  conceive  than  to  describe  the  gross 
immorality  which  such  a  system  introduced  into  society 
at  large.  The  kings  often  had  the  mortification  to  see 
all  their  laws  overthrown  by  insurrections  of  the  peas- 
ants, goaded  to  madness  by  the  oppressions  of  their 
lords.  Murders,  and  other  dreadful  crimes,  therefore, 
occurred  frequently,  private  vengeance  often  supplying 
the  impotency  of  the  laws. 

Scarcely  any  institutions  existing  for  the  instruction 
of  the  commonalty,  the  greatest  number  of  the  people 
were  growing  up  in  the  deepest  ignorance.  Through 
all  classes  of  society  gross  superstition  was  prevailing, 
especially  appearing  in  belief  in  witchcraft  and  enchant- 
ment. Sorceresses  were  tried  by  an  ecclesiastical  tri- 
bunal, condemned  and  burnt.  Christian  II.  forbade, 
indeed,  that  superstitious  cruelty ;  but,  however,  long 
after  his  time,  it  continued,  and  even  as  late  as  1675, 
two  sorceresses  were  burnt  alive  in  Kjoge,  a  few  miles 
from  Copenhagen.  Intemperance  and  gluttony,  and, 
among  the  higher  classes  of  society,  an  excessive  luxury 
in  dress  and  equipage,  were  characteristics  of  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries.  Drunkenness  was  here, 
as  in  other  northern  countries,  a  prevailing  vice,  both 
among  the  higher  and  lower  classes,  among  clergy  and 
laity.     Mead  and  strong  beer  were  the  usual  drinks  to 


240  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

be  taken,  either  for  quenching  thirst  or  for  medicinal 
purposes ;  mead  being  prepared  in  the  country  itself, 
beer  imported  from  Germany.  Beer  was  taken  so  ex- 
cessively, that  a  man  daily  consumed  twelve  pints,  and 
to  a  nun  in  a  nunnery  five  hundred  and  four  gallons 
were  annually  allotted.  Brandy,  in  the  north  of  Europe, 
a  spirit  obtained  from  grain,  was  only  known  as  a 
medicine ;  and  coffee,  tea,  and  chocolate  were  unknown 
in  Scandinavia  before  the  seventeenth  century.  Vege- 
tables were,  comparatively  speaking,  used  very  little, 
whereas  fish  and  meat  formed  the  principal  food, 
strongly  seasoned  with  spices.  Luxury  in  entertain- 
ments was  very  much  in  use ;  Christian  II.,  therefore, 
enacted  a  law  that  a  wedding-party  must  not  last  more 
than  two  days.  The  extravagance  of  the  rich  nobility 
in  dress  and  ornaments  exceeded  all  bounds.  Immense 
amounts  of  money  were  squandered  away  on  ornaments 
of  gold  and  silver,  gems,  dresses  embroidered  with 
pearls,  silk,  velvet,  damask,  brocade  variegated  with  gold, 
and  furs  of  ermine  and  sable  ;  even  the  servants  of  the 
nobility  being  sometimes  dressed  gorgeously,  and  their 
horses,  on  festival  occasions,  covered  with  costly  cloth 
and  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver.  The  general  dwell- 
ings in  the  towns  were  plain,  usually  built  of  timber- 
work,  and  thatched,  wherefore  destructive  conflagrations 
frequently  happened.  Panes  of  glass  were  yet,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  rare  and  expensive ;  skin  and  horn 
being,  therefore,  used  instead  of  glass.     The  opulent 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  241 

noblemen  erected  castles,  fortified  with  towers,  ram- 
parts and  moats,  where  they  lived  in  princely  magnifi- 
cence. But  the  Reformation,  rightly  called  the  principle 
of  equality,  compelled  the  nobility  to  renounce  a  great 
many  prerogatives  which  they  had  hitherto  exercised 
over  the  poor  and  ignorant  population,  and  to  use  a 
more  temporizing  policy. 


THIKD    PEEIOD. 

FROM  THE  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OP  LUTHERANISM  AS  THE  ESTAB- 
LISHED  RELIGION  OF  DENMARK  UNTIL  THE  INTRODUCTION 
OF    THE    ABSOLUTE    SOVEREIGNTY.      1536—1660. 


1536—1596. 

Christian  777.— Diet  of  Copenhagen— Charter—  Bugenhagen— The  Re- 
formation introduced  into  Iceland— Intolerance— University  and 
School  Affairs— Alliance  with  Sweden— New  Division  of  the  Duchies 
—Frederick  II.  —Conquest  of  Ditmarsh— Three  Crowns— The  North- 
ern Seven  Years'  War— Daniel  Ranzau— Peace  conoluded  in  Stettin 
—Peter  Oxen— Foundation  of  Kronborg— The  Sound  Dues— Liibeck 
Hamburg— Science  and  Arts— Henrik  Ranzau— Tycho  Brahe— 
Christian  IV.—  Queen-Dowage  Sophia  of  Mecklenburg— Guardian- 
ship—Peasantry— Nobility. 

The  war  now  being  at  an  end  and  Copenhagen 
surrendered,  the  king  Christian  III.,  came  to  an  agree- 
ment with  the  senators  abont  abrogating  the  power 
and  authority  the  bishops  hitherto  possessed,  thereby 
facilitating  the  introduction  of  the  Reformation,  and 
completing  the  religious  revolution.  The  bishops  of  the 
whole  kingdom,  therefore,  were  imprisoned,  but  soon 
again  set  at  liberty,  after,  by  oath,  having  promised 
neither  to  act  nor  to  speak  against  the  new  doctrine. 
Only  Joachim  E6nnov0  bishop  of  Roeskilde,  proving 


HISTORY  OF   SCANDINAVIA. 


243 


very  refractory,  was  confined  in  prison  till  his  death. 
A.  d.,  Thereafter,  in  a  general  assembly  oi  the  states 
1536,  in  Copenhagen,  at  which  all  the  nobility  and 
deputies  of  the  burgher  class  and  peasantry  met  to- 
gether, the  noble  king  procured  the  suppression  of  the 
Romish  worship,  and  the  abrogation  of  episcopacy  and 
the  episcopal  hierarchy;  the  titles,  however,  of  the 
bishops  being  retained,  which  more  easily  reconciled  the 
clergy  to  it.  The  castles,  fortresses,  and  vast  domains 
of  the  bishops  were  now  reunited  to  the  crown,  and 
the  rest  of  their  revenues  applied  to  the  maintenance  of 
Lutheran  ministers,  the  purposes  of  general  education, 
and  charitable  institutions. 

From  Denmark  the  revolution  extended  to  Norway, 
where  the  Reformation  was  introduced  without  any 
opposition ;  but  about  the  same  time  this  kingdom,  for 
having,  as  we  have  seen,  supported  the  deposed  Chris- 
tian II.,  was  deprived  of  its  independence,  and  reduced 
to  a  Danish  province ;  the  king  of  Denmark,  however, 
continuing  to  call  himself  king  of  Norway,  but  being  no 
more  crowned  in  Trondhjem,  only  in  Copenhagen,  the 
crowning  there  giving  validity  to  both  kingdoms.  At 
that  important  general  assembly,  or  Diet  of  Copenhagen, 
the  aristocracy  lost  the  vicious  supremacy  over  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  crown  and  the  rights  of  the  people 
which  they  had  established ;  the  senate  was  no  more  to 
be  composed  entirely  of  nobles;  national  assemblies 
should  be  convoked,  and  the  elections  of  the  kings  should 


244  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

not  alone  be  confined  to  the  aristocratic  order.  Never- 
theless the  nobility  continued  to  keep  a  good  deal  of 
that  ascendancy  which  they  had  too  long  maintained ; 
and  the  royal  power,  a  long  time  after,  was  restricted 
by  charters  and  capitulations,  which  the  nobility  pre- 
scribed to  the  kings  on  their  accession  to  the  throne,  the 
burgher  class  and  the  peasantry  being  very  little  noticed. 
Before  closing  the  Diet,  where  the  papal  hierarchy  in 
Denmark  and  Norway  was  entirely  overthrown,  Chris- 
tian III.  sealed  and  signed  a  charter,  containing  nearly 
the  same  clauses  and  articles  as  the  earlier ;  yet  with 
the  exception  that  the  subjects  were  not  permitted  to 
rebel,  even  if  the  king  might  not  rule  in  conformity 
with  the  charter.  For  the  rest,  the  power  of  the  crown 
was  very  much  limited  by  this  charter,  containing  very 
little  to  support  the  dignity  of  the  king,  but  too  much 
to  gratify  the  nobility  and  secure  to  it  the  chief  powers 
of  the  state ;  the  whole  reign  of  Christian  III.,  there- 
fore, being  a  continued  struggle  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  aristocracy,  which  had  taken  too  deep  root 
to  be  eradicated  at  one  blow. 

The  Lutheran  or  Evangelical  doctrine  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  Decree  of  the  Diet  of  Copenhagen,  had  become 
the  established  religion  in  Denmark  and  Norway,  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  introduced  without  considerable  oppo- 
sition in  both  kingdoms ;  only  in  Iceland,  an  island  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  noted  for  its  vol- 
canic mountain,  Hekla,  the  Catholic  party  fell  with  the 


HISTOET   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  24:5 

sword  in  their  hands ;  John  Areson,  bishop  of  Holum, 
and  Ogmund,  bishop  of  Skalholt,  who  withstood  the 
introduction  of  the  Eeformation  into  Iceland,  falling  by 
the  stroke  of  an  executioner;  whereafter  the  new* doc- 
trine got  a  firm  footing  and  Iceland  fell  into  complete 
dependence  upon  the  Danish  government,  promising 
never  to  carry  resistance'  so  far  as  to  employ  the  sword 
against  the  king  of  Denmark.  Popery  had  now  been 
overthrown  in  Scandinavia,  but  the  Protestantism 
erected  in  its  stead  was  for  a  long  time  just  as  bigoted 
and  intolerant  as  the  Catholic  creed  had  been  in  the 
worst  of  times,  several  severe  laws  being  passed  against 
other  Protestant  sects,  which  only  in  a  few  points 
dissented  from  the  established  church.  There  was  a 
division  between  the  Calvinists  and  Lutherans,  and  an 
unhappy  animosty  of  one  party  against  the  other,  which 
the  Form  of  Concord,  a  confession  of  faith  that  was  sub- 
scribed on  the  28th  of  May,  1577,  had  not  been  able  to 
compose ;  and  it  was  in  vain  that  some  exiled  Calvinists, 
headed  by  a  Polish  nobleman,  John  a  Zasco,  who  had 
been  cruelly  persecuted  in  England,  took  refuge  in  Den- 
mark, hoping  to  induce  the  else  kind-hearted  king, 
Christian  III.,  to  show  them  protection  and  toleration. 
But  all  in  vain ;  and  although  only  disagreeing  about  a 
few  points  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  doc- 
trine of  predestination,  they  were  mercilessly  banished 
from  Denmark,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  sternest  winter, 
forced,  with  infants  and  sick  women,  to  emigrate  to 


246  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

(iermany.  Flatterers  extolled  the  king  as  the  extermi- 
nator  of  heresy,  hut  sincere  and  true  Christians  held 
Christ's  words  hefore  him :  "Be  ye  merciful,  as  your 
father  also  is  merciful." 

In  order  to  regulate  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  and  com- 
pose a  liturgy  according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Refor- 
mation, Christian  III.  induced  Luther's  friend,  John 
Bugenhagen,  theological  professor  at  Wittemberg,  to 
come  to  Copenhagen.  He  crowned  and  anointed  a.  d., 
the  king,  inaugurated  the  new  Protestant  "bishops,  1537- 
and  made  himself  highly  famous  hy  composing  a  liturgy 
and  ritual  conformed  to  the  Lutheran  system  of  refor- 
mation. Regarding  a  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath  as 
a  safeguard  of  public  order  and  virtue,  and  deeply  con- 
vinced that  God,  who  is  the  Griver  of  all  time,  never  has 
surrendered  to  ordinary  use  this  His  own  reserved  sea- 
son, but  appointed  it  for  collective  prayers,  intercessions, 
and  thanksgivings,  and  considering  the  Sabbath  Day  a 
season  when  labor  may  wipe  off  its  grime,  Bugenhagen 
prevailed  upon  the  king  to  enact  a  Sabbath  law  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  the  people,  the  king  himself  promising 
to  enforce  by  his  own  example  the  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day.  For  the  rest,  the  meek  and  pious  Bugen- 
hagen advised  against  persecution  of  those  who  proved 
themselves  good  and  quiet  subjects,  whatever  were  their 
opinions  on  controverted  points  of  theology  ;  a  warning, 
however,  very  little  listened  to  in  Scandinavia. 

The  ecclesiastical  affairs  having  now  been  regulated, 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  247 

and  the  laws  having  given  their  countenance  to  the 
established  mode  of  worship,  the  king  abolished  the 
cloisters  of  the  mendicant  monks,  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans,  applying  the  revenues  of  their  large  estates 
to  the  maintenance  of  literary  men,  Protestant  minis- 
ters, and  school  affairs,  and  teaching  those  idle,  rebel- 
lious, and  licentious  friars  how  to  submit  themselves  to 
his  decision  with  unconditional  compliance.  Also,  the 
prebends  granted  to  the  cathedral  churches  of  Lund, 
Roeskilde,  Eibe,  Aarhuus  and  Wiborg,  were  confiscated, 
and  applied  to  literary  purposes,  especially  to  the 
advancement  of  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  which, 
during  the  civil  disturbances,  had  sunk  into  nothing; 
Christian  III.,  therefore,  in  all  reason,  being  considered 
a.  D.,  the  proper  founder  of  the  University,  which  now 
1539.  from  this  period  slowly  advanced  for  about  two 
centuries,  till  it  was  brought  to  great  perfection  in  the 
age  of  Christian  VI.  He  appointed  a  greater  number 
of  professors  than  before,  and  applied  the  estates  of  the 
cathedral  churches  to  pay  the  salaries  of  the  professors, 
and  to  exempt  meritorious  and  suitably  qualified  young 
students,  whose  circumstances  required  it,  from  charge 
for  tuition. 

The  efforts  of  Christian  II.  for  improving  the  school 
affairs  being  broken  off  by  his  banishment,  it  was  re- 
served to  Christian  III.  to  give  the  Latin  schools  a 
better  regulation  by  proposing  more  proper  school-books 
and  a  better  method  of  instruction.     But  it  was  a  pity 


248 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


that  in  these  schools,  of  which  one  was  erected  in  each 
commercial  town,  the  Latin  language  continued,  almost 
exclusively,  to  be  cultivated,  the  other  branches  being 
neglected  altogether.  In  this  manner  the  Latin  lan- 
guage was  strained  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  a  classical 
Latin  style  became  the  distinguishing  mark  of  profound 
scholarship :  an  opinion  which,  although  somewhat  modi- 
fied, has  heen  maintained  in  the  Scandinavian  countries. 
Of  erecting  country  schools,  no  mention  was  made  in 
this  period. 

But  civilization  and  religious  enlightenment  received 
n  mighty  impulse  in  Denmark  during  the  sixteenth 
century  by  that  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  a.  d., 
Christian  III.  ordered,  and  which  Palladius,  155°- 
theological  professor  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen, 
performed  in  a  masterly  manner ;  it  being  thus  the  first 
Danish  translation  of  the  Bible,  which,  hitherto,  had 
been  a  book  unknown  to  the  commonalty  and  the 
burgher  class. 

Although  Christian  III.  had  not  been  involved  in  any 
war  since  the  civil  war  had  terminated,  yet  the  peace 
of  the  kingdom  had  a  long  time  been  threatened  by 
Duke  Franz  of  Lothringen,  and  Frederick,  Elector  of 
Saxony,  sons-in-law  of  the  imprisoned  king,  both  laying 
claim  to  the  throne,  and  both  having  a  powerful  support 
in  the  emperor,  Charles  V.,  brother-in-law  of  Christian 
II.  To  strengthen  himself  against  these  pretenders, 
Christian  III.  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Francis  I 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  249 

of  France,  an  enemy  of  the  emperor,  and  with  Grustavus 
Vasa  of  Sweden,  with  whom  he,  of  late,  had  had  some 
discord  concerning  the  possession  of  Grulland.  These 
contests,  however,  were  soon  composed,  a  strict  alliance 
A.  D.,  was  made  between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  in 
1541.  Bromsebro,  and  the  plans  of  the  two  pretenders 
did  not  conduce  to  the  desired  result.  This  alliance,  so 
promising  for  the  strength  and  harmony  of  the  North, 
and  affording  so  just  expectations  of  a  permanent  peace, 
soon  losi  its  effect,  the  Danish  king  assuming  three 
crowns  in  his  coat  of  arms,  thereby  indicating  his 
pretensions  to  all  three  kingdoms.  The  inveterate 
jealousy  anew  broke  out,  and  although  the  peace  of 
Bromsebro  had  put  an  end  to  the  open  contest  between 
the  two  monarchs,  the  hereditary  animosity  between 
the  royal  houses  of  Denmark  and  Sweden  was  not 
extinguished,  but,  after  a  few  decennaries,  broke  out 
in  a  destructive  seven  years'  war,  exhausting  the  re- 
sources of  both  kingdoms,  and  at  last  forcing  Denmark 
to  recognize  the  independence  of  Sweden  by  the  treaty 
of  Stettin. 

The  emperor,  Charles  V.,  at  length  withdrawing  from 

a.  d.,  all  fellowship  with  his  brother-in-law,  Christian 

1544.    n#)  rnade  peace  with  Denmark,  in  Spire,  where 

Christian   III.   had   to   promise   to   mitigate   the   rigid 

a.  D.,   imprisonment  of  Christian   II.,    in  the   gloomy 

1549.    tower  in  Sonderburg,  where  he  already  had  pined 

away  for  seventeen  years.     He  was  now  brought   & 


250  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Kallundborg,  in  Sjelland,  where  he  ended  his  a.  d. 
days  after  he  had  attained  his  seventy-eighth  1659- 
year. 

Christian  III.  was  a  member  of  the  League  of  SmaU 
calcC,  which  the  Protestant  princes  had  formed  for  their 
mutual  defence,  in  case  any  of  them  should  be  attacked 
for  the  Word  of  God's  sake ;  but  as  the  war  of  Smalcald 
broke  out  between  Charles  V.  and  the  Protestant  princes, 
the  situation  of  the  Danish  king,  who  had  lately  made 
peace  with  the  emperor,  became  very  critical.  He  sent, 
therefore,  no  troops  to  Germany,  but  instead,  a  sum  of 
money,  which  yet  the  royal  embassador  wisely  withheld, 
the  war  being  ended  in  the  battle  of  Muhlberg,  a.  d., 
where  the  elector  of  Saxony,  John  Frederick,  an  1547- 
intimate  friend  of  the  Danish  king,  was  taken  prisoner, 
after  a  brave  defence.  Christian  III.  purchased  for  the 
crown  the  two  dioceses,  Oesel  and  Curland ;  but  to  avoid 
offending  the  Russian  Czar,  Ivan  Vasilievitch,  declined 
accepting  the  large  city  of  Reval,  which  voluntarily 
offered  to  submit  to  Denmark. 

That  division  of  the  duchies,  Schleswig  and  Holstein, 
which  had  taken  place  during  the  reign  of  king  Hans, 
was  again  annulled,  at  the  accession  of  Frederick  I.,  to 
the  Danish  crown ;  but  Christian  III.  undertook  a  new 
division  between  his  brethren,  although  the  old  and 
expert  general  and  statesman,  John  Ranzau,  strongly 
advised  against  this  imprudent  step.  Adolph,  obtaining 
the    Gottorp  part,   became   founder    vf   the   house   of 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  251 

Holstein-G-ottorp,  the  dukes  of  which  so  often  waged 
war  with  Denmark  ;  Hans  the  Elder  got  the  Haderslev 
part,  and  the  king  himself  the  Sonderburg  part.  To 
the  fourth  brother,  Frederick,  was  only  given  the  diocese 
of  Schleswig,  and  later,  that  of  Hildesheim.  Owing  to 
these  divisions  and  parties,  the  affairs  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein  have  often  taken  a  disastrous  turn  for  Den- 
mark, and  occasioned  sanguinary  national  wars,  the 
kings  often  not  knowing  how  to  keep  the  rebellious 
dukes  within  due  bounds;  and  I  grieve  to  say,  that 
Christian  III.,  in  many  other  respects  so  invaluable 
a  king,  by  that  division  of  the  duchies  between  his 
brethren,  has  sown  the  seeds  of  that  spirit  of  resistance 
and  discord,  which,  though  it  did  not  break  out  in  his 
time  into  acts  of  violence,  afterwards  proved  fatal  to  his 
successors,  and  became  the  principal  cause  of  the  violent 
revolutionary  storms  and  convulsions  in  the  years  1848, 
>49  and  '50. 

Th6  commercial  industry  in  Denmark  was  roused 
considerably  in  every  quarter  of  the  country  during  the 
reign  of  Christian  III.,  and  not  only  foreign  trade,  but 
domestic  manufactures  made  a  rapid  progress.  Copen- 
hagen, Aalborg,  and  Kjoge,  hitherto  having  manifested 
very  little  of  the  spirit  of  commerce,  began  to  be 
remarkably  distinguished  for  their  trade  and  manufac- 
tures; and  the  international  trade  between  Denmark 
and  Norway  was  considerably  increasing,  the  favorable 
location  of  Denmark  and  Norway  at  the  Baltic  and  the 


252  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

North  sea,  giving  them  every  advantage  in  mercantile 
respects.  The  herring-fishery  in  the  Lymfjord,  and 
the  salmon  in  Gruden  river,  at  Randers,  were  sources 
of  riches  for  Denmark,  as  iron,  copper,  lead  and  potashes 
were  for  Norway.  The  Hanseatic  League,  which  had 
begun  to  decline  from  the  year  1428,  and  was  now  fast 
sinking  into  decay,  transferred  to  Denmark  and  Norway 
a  great  part  of  their  trade,  and  the  declension  of  the 
Hanseatic  Confederacy,  the  unwise  attempt  of  which 
to  enforce  monopoly  proved  fatal  to  their  privileges  and 
their  power,  was  the  commencement  of  the  splendor  of 
Copenhagen,  that  for  a  long  series  of  years  rivaled  the 
most  eminent  commercial  cities  of  Europe,  and  speedily 
attained  to  a  very  high  degree  of  wealth  and  elegance. 
A  general  commercial  intercourse  began  between  the 
North  and  other  countries,  and  Denmark  and  Norway 
found  London,  Antwerp  and  Amsterdam  the  most 
convenient  entrepots  in  transmitting  their  productions. 
Christian  III.  encouraged,  also,  domestic  manufactures 
by  many  excellent  laws,  and  it  became  of  great  conse- 
quence for  the  increase  and  growth  of  commercial 
affairs,  that  he  caused  good  money  to  be  coined,  and 
made  weights  and  measures  uniform  for  both  kingdoms. 
It  may  not  be  improper  to  conclude  this  sketch  of  the 
reign  of  Christian  III.  with  a  few  observations  on  his 
character  and  private  life.  During  his  whole  reign  he 
proved  intent  or  projects  of  real  utility,  and  distin- 
guished himself  by  rectitude  of  mind  and  conduct,  by 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  253 

unfeigned  piety  to  Grod  and  love  to  men,  and  by  care- 
fulness for  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  his  king- 
dom ;  he  loved  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  promoted 
them ;  his  habits  were  economical,  and  his  manners 
plain  and  familiar ;  he  was  a  decided  hater  of  false- 
hood and  low  flatteries,  which  he  on  taking  the  Lord's 
Supper  strikingly  exemplified.  The  court  chaplain  ad- 
dressed the  king  while  kneeling  before  the  altar  :  "  Most 
high  and  mighty  Prince,  most  gracious  King;"  but 
Christian,  rising,  reprimanded  him  directly,  saying,  "  I 
have  knelt  down  here  as  a  poor  sinner  ;  here  I  am 
neither  high  nor  mighty.  Don't  address  me  in  such  a 
manner  ;  call  me  here  plainly  Christian."  He  exhibited 
himself  often  to  his  people,  conversed  with  them,  and 
shared  in  their  innocent  tastes  and  amusements.  His 
queen,  Dorothea,  exercised  perhaps  a  greater  influence 
over  him  than  was  desirable,  the  king's  severity  against 
the  exiled  Calvinists,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Den 
mark,  being  mainly  ascribed  to  her.  Being  jealous  ol 
the  great  consideration  -and  honor  conferred  upon  the 
A.  d.,  eminent  financier  and  statesman,  Peter  Oxen, 
1559.  sne  prevailed  also  with  the  king  to  banish  him. 
On  new-year's  day  Christian  III.  died  in  Copenhagen, 
after  having  borne  the  agonies  of  protracted  sickness 
with  Christian  patience  and  resignation.  He  is  buried  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Roeskilde,  where  a  splendid  vaulted  mar- 
ble repository  is  erected  to  receive  the  earthly  remains 
of  the  kings  and  queens  of  the  house  of  Oldenburg. 


254 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


The  crown  of  Denmark  and  Norway  was  now  con- 
ferred upon  his  son,  who  was  elected  and  crowned  by 
the  name  of  Frederick  II,  after  having  subscribed  to  a 
charter  not  very  different  from  that  of  his  father. 
Having  as  crown-prince  always  been  on  the  best  terms 
with  the  Danish  and  Norwegian  people,  his  accession 
gave  great  satisfaction.  He  was  soon  crowned,  and 
commenced  his  reign  by  liberal  promises,  and  showed  a 
wise  policy  in  weakening  the  powers  of  the  nobility 
and  reuniting  the  great  fiefs  to  the  crown  ;  the  nobility, 
however,  understanding  how  to  turn  something  to  theii 
advantage. 

Anxious  to  relieve  Denmark  from  the  ignominy  it 
had  undergone  in  Ditmarsh  at  Hemmingsted  under 
king  Hans,  and  at  the  same  time  desirous  to  subdue 
that  rebellious  ] ittle  republic,  the  king,  in  conjunction 
with  his  uncles,  Hans  and  Adolph,  made  the  most 
vigorous  military  preparations  for  washing  out  the  ig- 
nominy and  subjugating  the  unmanageable  inhabitants. 
The  warlike  duke,  Adolph,  had  already  often  tried  to 
influence  Christian  III.  to  make  an  expedition  against 
Ditmarsh,  but  this  peaceable  king  could  not  be  induced 
to  take  any  part  in  the  contest;  after  his  death, 
Adolph  proposed  to  make  himself  master  of  the  re- 
public ;  but  Frederick  II.  being  seasonably  informed  of 
:t,  resolved  to  lead  the  undertaking  himself,  and  go  in 
front  of  his  army.  War  was  declared,  of  which  the 
object    and    prize    was  the   sovereignty  of    Ditmarsh 


HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA.  255 

Though  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  their  destruction 

the  valiant  Ditmarshians  would  listen  to  neither  reasons 

nor   suggestions,  but  with,  desperate  bravery  defended 

A.  D.,  their  liberty  against  the  superior   royal  army, 

156°-  headed  by  the  old  John  Ranzau.  After  a  most 
heroic  resistance  at  Heide,  where  women  fought  as  well 
as  men,  they  were  forced  to  succumb  to  overwhelming 
numbers,  and  with  white  staffs  in  their  hands  to  implore 
the  king's  mercy ;  after  which  peace  was  soon  concluded 
on  terms  advantageous  to  the  king  and  the  dukes,  who 
now  divided  the  country  between  themselves.  The  tal- 
ented historian,  Professor  Molbech,  of  Copenhagen,  has 
eloquently  described  and  particularized  that  heroic  de- 
fence  of  the  little  people,  who  had  determined  either  to 
conquer  or  to  die ;  and  he  has  properly  compared  their 
heroism  with  that  of  the  immortal  three  hundred,  who 
at  Thermopylae,  under  Leonidas,  gloriously  fell,  op- 
posing the  countless  hosts  of  Xerxes.  A  marble 
column,  as  we  know,  was  erected  in  honor  of  Leonidas 
and  his  brave  Lacedaemonians,  but  no  monument  has 
pointed  out  to  the  traveler  the  spot  where  the  heroio 
band  of  the  Ditmarshians  fell. 

About  the  same  time  as  the  war  against  Ditmarsh 
was  ended,  A.  D.,   1560,  the   noble-minded  Grustavus 
Erikson  Yasa,  of  Sweden,  died,  sixty-four  years  of  age 
having  established  Sweden's    prosperity  by  wise  laws 
and  founded  the  hereditary  succession  of   the  crown 
which  afterwards  was  extended  to  females.     His  son. 


256  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

• 

the  passionate,  cruel,  and  at  last  almost  insane  Erik 
XIV.,  ascended  the  throne,  during  whose  reign  a.  d., 
the  horrible  Danish  Seven  Year's  War  broke  1563-70. 
out.  A  dispute  about  the  use  of  the  three  crowns  in 
the  Danish  coat  of  arms  was  the  main  motive  of  the 
war ;  to  Which  may  be  added,  that  the  Swedish  king 
would  usurp  feudal  rights  over  the  dioceses  of  Oesel  and 
Curland,  which  the  Danish  king,  Frederick  II.,  had  re- 
signed to  his  brother,  Magnus,  who  in  return  renounced 
all  claim  to  the  duchies.  Besides  that,  Erik  XIV.  had 
personally  offended  Magnus.  The  Seven  Year's  a.  d., 
War  now  breaking  out  between  Denmark  and  1663- 
Sweden,  was  waged  both  on  land  and  sea.  At  sea  the 
Danes  were  led  by  the  great  sea  heroes,  Peter  Skram, 
Herluf  Trolle,  and  Otto  Rud ;  but  the  first  one  being 
ninety  years  of  age,  soon  resigned  the  staff  of  command. 
In  a  naval  engagement  at  0 eland  the  Danes,  indeed,  cap- 
tured the  Swedish  admiral's  ship,  called  the  Matchless, 
having  three  benches  of  oars,  an  equipment  of  1,800  ma- 
rines and  120  pieces  of  ordnance,  but  Herluf  Trolle  was 
soon  after  mortally  wounded  on  the  Pomeranian  coast, 
and  Otto  Rud  was  made  prisoner  in  a  battle  by  Bornholm, 
and  carried  to  Sweden,  where  the  enraged  and  cruel 
king,  Erik  XIV.,  would  have  killed  him  with  his  sword, 
had  not  Otto  Rud  undauntedly  addressed  him,  saying : 
"  Be  not  wholly  guided  by  your  passionate  temper, 
but  remember,  I  pray  your  royal  Majesty,  what  you 
awe  to  a  warrior,  who  has  discharged  his  duty  to  his 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  257 

king  and  fatherland."  Afterwards  the  Danish  fleet 
was  destroyed  by  a  violent  hurricane,  not  far  from 
Grulland.  In  consequence  of  all  these  misfortunes, 
the  Swedes  were,  beyond  doubt,  superior  to  the  Danes 
at  sea. 

The  land  force  performed  nothing  as  long  as  it  was 
conducted  by  the  inefficient  general,  Count  GUnther  of 
Schwarzburg ;  the  command  was  therefore  given  to 
Otto  Krumpen,  who,  forty  years  before,,  during  the  reign 
of  Christian  II.,  had  conquered  Stockholm,  but  on 
account  of  old  age  he  soon  retired  to  private  life,  where- 
upon the  chief  command  was  entrusted  to  the  brave  and 
a.  d.,  magnanimous  Daniel  Ranzau,  who  immortalized 
1565.  his  name  in  the  battle  of  Svarteraa,  in  Sweden, 
where  he,  with  five  thousand  Danes,  totally  defeated 
the  Swedish  army,  consisting  of  twenty-five  thousand 
well  disciplined  soldiers.  Notwithstanding  this  pro- 
digious inequality,  Daniel  Ranzau  resolved  to  indulge 
the  ardor  of  his  few  troops,  but  before  commencing  the 
battle  he  tried  to  inspire  them  with  still  more  courage, 
by  addressing  them  as  follows  :  "  Soldiers  !  The  enemy y 
whose  cruel  hands  are  reeking  with  the  blood  of  your 
brethren,  is  impending  over  your  heads.  You  must 
either  battle  as  heroes  or  fight  as  poltroons.  On  the  one 
hand  is  honor  and  a  clear  conscience  ;  on  the  other,  in- 
famy and  remorse.  It  concerns  your  king  and  your 
fatherland.  Therefore,  join  together  in  the  bravest 
defence,    keep    your    eyes   undauntedly   fixed   on  the 


258 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


enemy,  and  have  a  watch  upon  all  his  evolutions.  In 
me  you  will  find  both  the  soldier  and  the  general.  I 
shall  conduct  myself  in  such  a  manner  that  I  may  be 
accountable  for  my  conduct,  here  to  my  king,  and  in 
heaven  to  my  Grod.  Now,  soldiers,  forward  ;  let  the 
ememy  see  the  white  of  your  eyes  ;  rush  straightway  on 
him.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  will  be  with  us  !"  The  Danish 
soldiers,  animated  by  these  words,  fought  like  lions,  and 
gained  a  complete  victory  ;  and  the  celebrated  Swedish 
historian,  Dr.  Grejer,  says,  that  the  Danish  infantry 
wrought  miracles.  "Within  three  hours  four  thousand 
Swedish  bodies  covered  the  battle-field. 

Having  thus  triumphed  over  that  great  superiority, 
Daniel  Ranzau,  together  with  Franzis  Brockenhuus, 
another  famous  Danish  commander,  made  an  inroad 
into  Smaland,  a  province  of  Sweden  ;  and,  having 
passed  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  he  defeated,  after 
sanguinary  engagements,  two  Swedish  armies  ;  where- 
after both  those  generals  undertook  a  most  difficult 
retreat,  in  the  heart  of  the  winter,  through  regions  filled 
with  mountains,  forests,  and  hollows  ;  a  retreat  often 
compared  by  historians  with  that  of  the  Ten  Thousand 
from  Cunaxa  to  Colchis,  on  the  Euxine,  and  thence 
along  the  Euxine  to  the  Hellespont,  about  the  year  400 
B.  C.  Unfortunately  for  Denmark,  both  Daniel  Ranzau 
and  Francis  Brockenhuus  fell  at  the  close  of  the  war  in 
the  siege  of  Varberg,  in  the  province  of  Hal-  a.  d., 
land,  in  Sweden ;  but  the  successful  issue  of  the    1669 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  259 

war  was  chiefly  owing  to  their  skillful  tactics.  Erik 
XIV.,  of  Sweden,  having  reigned  very  imprudently 
and  cruelly,  and  even  having  with  his  own  hand 
murdered  the  young  Niels  Sture,  a  grandson  of  Steno 
Sture  the  Younger,  before  mentioned,  and  having  caused 
all  the  nobles  to  tremble  in  anticipation  of  a  similar  fate, 
was  placed  in  confinement  by  his  brothers,  John  and 
Charles,  and  sentenced  to  suffer  death.  The  only  favor 
shown  him  was  to  choose  the  manner  of  it,  and  he  chose 
a.  D.,  to  empty  the  cup  of  poison.  On  his  confinement 
1577-  John  III.  had  ascended  the  Swedish  throne  in 
the  year  1569.  He  wished  to  make  peace  with  Den- 
mark, and  after  one  year  of  negotiations  the  seven  years' 
a.  D.,  war  ended  in  the  peace  of  Stettin.  Sweden  had 
1570  to  pay  down  to  Denmark  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  rixdollars  ;  each  kingdom  should  be  entitled 
to  use  three  crowns  in  its  coat-of-arms,  and  the  preten- 
sions which  both  kingdoms,  since  the  Union  of  Calmar 
had  been  irreparably  broken,  had  still  mutually  made  to 
each  other,  should  cease :  Denmark  recognizing  the  inde- 
pendence of  Sweden,  and  Sweden,  in  return,  disclaim- 
ing every  pretension  to  Norway,  Skane,  Halland,  Ble- 
king,  and  the  island  of  Grulland. 

The  happy  issue  of  the  war  was  owing,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  wisdom,  firmness,  and  prudence  of  the 
skillful  statesman,  Peter  Oxen,  who  had  been  recalled 
from  his  exile,  and  now,  by  his  judicious  management 
of  finances  and  taxes,  procured  means  of  defraying  the 


260  HISTORY  %)F     SCANDINAVIA. 

great  charges  of  the  war.  He  also  made  himself  well 
known  by  introducing  several  fruit  trees,  as  also  the 
carp,  the  pike,  and  the  craw-fish. 

The  little  sconce  or  fortification  called  Krogen,  at 
Earsound,  (the  small  Sound  between  Denmark  and  Swe- 
den), having  proved  insufficient  to  command  the  naviga- 
tion through  the  Sound,  Frederic  II.  built  the  strong 
fortress  called  Kronborg,  close  by  the  city  of  Elsenore. 
The  origin  of  the  tax  known  as  the  Sound  Dues  of  Ear- 
sound,  goes  back  upwards  of  six  hundred  years,  and  is 
founded  in  that  ascendency  which  the  kings  of  Denmark, 
from  time  out  of  mind,  have  exercised  over  the  narrow 
and  small  sounds  and  belts  streaming  through  their 
lands ;  an  ascendency  which  the  principal  maritime 
powers,  through  a  series  of  treaties,  have  acknowledged, 
and  the  tolls  levied  by  the  Danish  Government  on  all 
ships  passing  through  the  Sound,  were  considered  an 
equitable  compensation  for  the  expenses  which  Denmark 
incurred  in  the  erection  and  maintenance  of  light-houses, 
buoys,  and  landmarks,  to  protect  the  navigation  of  the 
different  sounds  ;  and  this  compensation  has  been  paid 
to  Denmark  by  the  several  nations  interested,  according 
to  a  graduated  scale,  but  always,  however,  considered  a 
thorn  in  the  side  of  the  commercial  nations  of  Europe. 
During  the  reign  of  king  Hans  it  was  decided,  by  a 
commercial  treaty  made  with  England,  that  the  ships 
only  in  cases  of  utmost  necessity  could  pass  through  the 
Danish  sounds  and  belts,  and  should  then  pay  tolls  in 


HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA.  261 

Nyborg,  situated  on  the  large  belt.  From  the  time  of 
Christian  II  the  sound  dues  were  paid  down  in  pure 
silver,  while  in  earlier  times  goods  were  taken.  The 
enhancing  of  the  Sound  Dues  in  the  following  age 
occasioned  many  complaints,  and  as  Frederick  II.  raised 
it  considerably,  the  Lubeckers  made  a  complaint  to  the 
German  emperor,  which,  however,  resulted  in  its 
enhancement  particularly  for  the  Lubeckers,  who  had 
to  submit,  their  political  influence  being  now  almost 
undone.  But  Hamburg'  commencing  again  to  occupy 
an  influential  rank  amongst  the  commercial  towns,  had 
already,  during  the  reign  of  Christian  III.,  arrogated  a 
right,  called  the  compulsive  right,  in  pursuance  of  which 
Hamburg  would  compel  the  Holsteinish  towns  situated 
on  the  Elbe  to  carry  tneir  grain  and  other  merchandises 
to  this  city.  But  Frederic  II.  forced  Hamburg  to  give 
up  that  usurped  right,  and  pay  ten  thousand  rixdollars, 
and  afterwards  one  hundred  thousand  rixdollars. 

Yet  older  than  the  sound  dues  at  Elsenore  is  the  Stade 
toll  levied  by  the  Hanoverian  Grovernment  on  all  ships 
passing  up  the  river  Elbe.  Stade  is  a  small  town  situ 
ated  on  the  Elbe.  It  originally  belonged  to  the  king  of 
Sweden,  but  was  subsequently  seized  by  Denmark  and 
sold  to  the  elector  of  Hanover  (Greorge  I.  of  England)  in 
1715.  In  the  time  of  Conrad  II,  emperor  of  Germany 
(1040),  permission  was  given  to  the  archbishop  of  Ham- 
burg to  establish  a  market  in  Stade,  and  to  levy  a  tax 
on  all  goods  offered  for  sale  there,  with  the  understand- 


262  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA^ 

ing  that  the  revenue  of  the  tax  should  be  devoted  to  the 
use  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Hamburg.  But 
the  toll  thus  established  as  a  market  tax  for  religious 
purposes,  has  been  enforced  by  the  successive  owners  of 
Stade  down  to  the  present  day,  and  has  been  converted 
into  a  transit  duty  on  all  vessels  bound  for  the  large 
cities  of  Hamburg  and  Altona,  which  yields  the  king- 
dom of  Hanover  an  enormous  annual  income,  for  which 
it  returns  no  compensation  of  any  sort.  But  Hanover's 
pretended  right  to  exact  a  tax  for  the  navigation  of  the 
Elbe,  is  not  entitled  even  to  the  consideration  extended 
to  Denmark ;  because  Hanover  does  not  contribute  a 
single  dollar  towards  keeping  the  river  in  a  navigable 
condition,  or  maintaining  light-houses  and  buoys,  the 
free  city  of  Hamburg  having  for  centuries  borne  all  such 
expenses. 

The  fatal  division  of  the  two  southern  duchies 
of  Denmark,  was  continued  under  Frederick  II.,  he 
granting  to  his  brother,  Hans  the  Younger,  who  a.  d., 
became  the  founder  of  the  Sonderburg  lineage,  1504- 
the  counties  of  Sonderburg,  Nordburg,  and  Aro,  a  small 
island  in  the  Baltic.  Upon  the  death  of  this  Hans  the 
Younger,  this  house  was  divided  even  into  four  others : 
Sonderburg,  Nordburg,  Ploen  and  Glucksburg ;  the 
first  of  which  was  afterwards  divided  into  five  new 
lines,  all,  however,  now  extinct,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Sonderburg  (Augustenburg),  and  the  Glucksburg 
(Beck),  the  possessions  of  the  extinct  lineages  succes- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  263 

sively   being   reunited    to   the    crown.       Nevertheless, 

Hans  the  Younger  and  his  successors  took  no  share  in 

ruling  tHe  duchies,  but  were  only  considered  proprietors' 

of  the  allodial  estates.     The  protracted  disputes  between 

the   king   and  his  uncles,  concerning  the  enfeoffment 

A.  D.,  of   Schleswig,  were  ended  at   an  agreement  in 

1679-    Odensee,    after   which  the   dukes,   Adolph  and 

Hans  the  Elder,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  thirty-six 

years  after  they  had  received  their  fiefs.    Upon  the  death 

of  Hans  the  Elder,  his  possessions  were,   after  some 

variance,  divided  between  the  king  himself  and  Adolph: 

a.  d.,   Hans  the  Younger  obtained  nothing  but,  in  com- 

1580.    pensation,  some  scattered  possessions  of  the  royal 

part   of  the  duchies.      It  is   easy  to  see  of  what  vast 

detriment  this  division  was  to  the  solid  interests  of  the 

Danish  body. 

Frederick  II.  was,  like  his  father,  liberally  disposed  to 
encourage  science  and  art,  and,  by  his  own  example,  to 
promote  a  fashionable  relish  for  literary  productions. 
He  founded  a  cloister,  -also  called  the  Community,  a 
massive  building,  where  a  hundred  students  received 
free  house  and  board;  and  in  Soro,  a  town  forty 
English  miles  from  Copenhagen,  he  established  an 
academy  for  thirty  children  of  noble  descent  and  for 
thirty  descended  from  the  burgher  class.  The  Academy 
of  Herlufsholm,  the  environs  of  which  are  celebrated 
for  their  beauty,  was  founded  by  the  great  sea  hero, 
Herluf  Trolle,  who  liberally  spent  all  his  great  riches 


264:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

to  establish  this  yet  celebrated  institution.  At  this 
time  lived  also  several  men  eminent  in  the  various 
departments  of  literature,  sciences,  and  the  *arts ;  as 
Henri/  Ranzau,  Tycho  Brake,  Niels  Hemmingson 
and  Anders  Sorenson  Vedel,  the  latter  of  whom  has 
deserved  well  by  an  excellent  translation  of  the 
Latin  original  of  Saxo  Grrammaticus.  Henrik  Ranzau, 
surnamed  the  Learned,  a  son  of  the  celebrated  com- 
mander, John  Ranzau,  rendered  himself  known,  both 
by  his  extensive  learning  and  immense  riches,  which  he 
applied  to  promote  and  encourage  science  and  the  arts, 
and  to  bring  about  undertakings  of  general  usefulness. 
The  great  astronomer,  Tycho  Brahe,  has  gained  the 
most  unlimited  reputation  abroad,  his  name  being 
known  to  the  whole  civilized  world.  In  the  thirteenth 
year  of  his  age  he  entered  the  University  of  Copenhagen, 
and  after  there  having  passed  his  examination  highly 
satisfactorily  to  his  examiners,  whose  attention  he  at- 
tracted, particularly  by  his  deep  knowledge  in  the 
classics  and  mathematics,  he  visited  several  foreign 
Universities.  Upon  his  return,  the  king,  Frederic  II., 
presented  him  with  Hwen,  a  beautiful  little  rock-island, 
in  the  sound  between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  where 
Tycho  Brahe  erected  a  castle  named  TJraniaburg,  and 
an  observatory  called  Stjerneburg  (star-burg).  He  occu- 
pied these  for  twenty-one  years  in  profound  studies 
concerning  the  motions  of  the  planets  and  the  form  of 
the  heavens.     This  great  man,  whose  genius  far  out- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  265 

shone  all  who  had  gone  before  him  in  the  path  of 
astronomy,  so  as  not  to  leave  to  posterity  the  possibility 
of  eclipsing  his  fame,  discovered  that  the  planets  moved 
in  a .  circular  orbit  round  the  sun ;  and  he  discovered, 
likewise,  the  analogy  between  the  distances  of  the 
several  planets  from  the  sun  and  their  periodical  revo- 
lutions, thus  paving  the  way  for  the  immortal  Newton. 
He  not  only  influenced  his  contemporaries  by  astro- 
nomical works,  but  instructed,  also,  many  young  men ; 
and  he  enjoyed  so  high  a  reputation,  that  even  foreign 
potentates  visited  him  on  his  astronomical  island, 
amongst  others,  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  who  had  come 
to  Denmark  to  celebrate  his  marriage  with  princess 
Anna,  daughter  of  Frederick  II.  The  Scottish  king 
requested  Tycho  Brahe  to  ask  a  favor  of  him,  and 
Tycho  begged  two  English  dogs,  which  became  the 
innocent  cause  of  his  ruin.  The  lord  high  chancellor, 
Christopher  Walkendorph,  visiting  him,  the  dogs,  lying 
at  the  door,  barked  at  the  chancellor,  who  kicked 
them.  Tycho  Brahe,-  in  general  easily  provoked, 
was  so  exasperated,  that  he  severely  rebuked  "Walken- 
dorph,  who,  greatly  offended  by  this  harsh  language, 
tried  to  disgrace  him  with  the  young  king,  Christian 
IV.  At  Walkendorph's  request,  the  king  sent  Thomas 
Finche,  professor  of  mathematics  at  the  University  ol 
Copenhagen,  to  Hwen,  to  examine  Brahe's  astronomical 
instruments.  The  Professor,  jealous  of  all  the  honor 
and  esteem  conferred  upon   Brahe,  declared  that  the\ 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

were  too  expensive  and  superfluous ;  all  which  mortified 
the  latter  so  much  as  to  make  him  weary  of  his  father- 
land, which  he  left  in  the  month  of  April,  1597.  He 
qow  repaired  to  Bohemia,  where  the  emperor,  Rudolph 
II.,  highly  instructed  in  learning  and  science,  cordially 
received  him,  and  gave  him  a  large  yearly  salary,  and 
a  palace  called  Benach,  close  by  Prague,  where  he  lived 
till  his  death,  1601.  His  cotemporary,  the  great  as- 
tronomer, John  Kepler,  lodged  in  Brahe's  house  in 
Benach,  both  applying  themselves  to  the  deepest  astro- 
nomical speculations.  The  emperor  caused  him  to  be 
buried  with  great  pomp,  in  the  principal  church  of 
Prague,  called  Church  am  Thein,  where  a  marble 
monument  is  erected,  on  which  his  image  is  engraven, 
as  also  his  usual  motto :  "  Non  videri,  sed  esse."  Dr. 
lessen  delivered  the  funeral  sermon,  explaining  in 
classical  Latin,  how  his  great  genius  had  proceeded, 
step  by  step,  from  the  simplest  principles  to  the  most 
sublime  conclusions.  The  emperor,  Rudolph  II.,  bought 
his  astronomical  instruments.  Notwithstanding  his 
high  genius  and  deep  erudition,  he  wanted  very  much 
of  that  which  is  consistent  with  real  greatness  of  soul. 
He  was,  for  instance,  very  superstitious;  considering 
certain  days  of  the  year  pregnant  with  misfortune; 
wherefore  it  has  become  a  proverb  in  the  Scandinavian 
countries,  when  an  unhappy  accident  happens,  "  Thia 
day  is  a  Tycho  Brahe's  day." 

Niels  Hemming-son  (Hemmingius),  one,  for  his  age, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  267 

of  the  most  learned  and  talented  divines,  renowned, 
both  in  his  fatherland  and  foreign  lands,  met  with  the 
same  bitter  fate,  with  the  same  disappointments  and 
neglect  of  merit,  as  Tycho  Brahe.  Suspected  of  being 
inclined  to  adopt  the  Calvinistic  meaning  about  the 
Lord's  Supper  in  the  sense  of  "  This  represents  my 
body,"  and  of  not  asserting,  as  Luther,  the  bodily 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  Sacrament,  and  arraigned  by 
August,  elector  of  Saxony,  and  brother-in-law  to  the 
Danish  king  Frederic  II.,  for  this  crime,  the  generous 
and  learned  Niels  Hemmingson  was  suddenly,  in  the 
sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  without  proof  and  passing 
of  any  sentence,  deposed  from  his  professorship  at  the 
university,  it  being  the  reward  with  which  Denmark, 
both  now  and  afterwards,  has  often  distinguished  lite- 
rary genius. 

Upon  the  whole,  intolerance  was  a  prominent  feature 
of  this  period.  The  Form  of  Concord  [Formula  Con- 
cor  dice),  a  book  in  which  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  to- 
gether with  some  new  subtle  additions,  were  explained, 
which  James  Andrea,  professor  at  the  University  in 
Tubingen,  "Wirtemberg.  tried  to  introduce  into  Denmark, 
was  not  only  not  introduced,  but  the  king  himself,  with 
his  own  royal  hand  throwing  a  copy  of  that  book  into 
the  fire,  even  commanded  that  clergymen,  in  whose 
houses  it  was  found,  should  be  deposed  from  the  ministry, 
and  booksellers  attempting  to  sell  it  should  suffer  death 
without  mercy.    Already  Christian  III.  had  passed  a  law 


268  HISTORY  OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

forbidding  any  foreigner  to  settle  in  the  country  before  he 
was  examined  in  the  Creed,  and  Frederick  II  issued  twen- 
ty-five articles,  which  every  foreigner  intending  to  settle 
in  Denmark  should  affirm  by  oath ;  whosoever  might  de- 
cline doing  so,  had  to  leave  the  country  within  three  days, 
and  for  apostacy  capital  punishment  was  to  be  inflicted. 
Frederick  II.  was  married  to  Sophia  of  Mecklenburg 
a  daughter  of  Ulrich  of  Schwerin  ;  a  wise,  pious,  and 
intelligent  queen,  by  whom  he  became  father  of  the 
famous  king  of  Denmark,  Christian  IV.*  He  died  in 
Cogenhagen,  fifty-three  years  of  age,  his  son  a,  d.} 
Christian  yet  being  a  minor,  only  ten  years  of  1588, 
age.  Upon  the  wnole,  Frederick  II.  ruled  his  kingdoms 
with  justice  vigor,  and  vigilance.  In  his  private  life  he 
was  frugal  without  avarice,  enterprising  without  teme- 
rity, and  of  an  active  and  pious  temper.  The  king 
drawing  his  last  breath,  and  the  court  physician  who 
came  to  feel  his  pulse  remarking,  "  The  beating  of  the 
pulse  is  weak,"  he  answered,  "  Be  it  as  it  may,  but  we 
know  the  mercy  of  God  shall  not  fail;"  and  when  he 
had  said  this  he  fell  asleep.  But  it  was  his  misfortune, 
that  with  his  many  good  qualities,  and  a  large  share  of 
mental  endowments,  he  wanted  that  toleration  towards 
other  religious  denominations,  which  should  have  taught 
him  moderation;  and  it  was  his  misfortune,  too,  that 
in  his  latter  days  he  indulged  in  the  frequent  use  of 
strong  spirituous  liquors,  which  abridged  his  life  and 
undermined  his  naturally  healthy  constitution. 

*  And  of  the  Princess  Anna,  in  Danish  Ane,  the  Queen  of  James  I.  of  England, 
and  the  mother  of  the  much  lamented  Charles  I.  Stuart.  See  Lives  of  Queens  of 
England,  by  Agnes  Strickland. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  269 

Christian  IV.  now  mounted  the  throne,  with  the  en- 
tire approbation  and  even  affection  of  his  subjects  ;  hut, 
being  a  minor,  a  guardianship  was  appointed,  consisting 
of  Niels  Kaas,  counsellor  of  state,  Peter  Munk,  admi- 
ral, Christopher  Walkendorph,  superintendent  of  finance, 
and  baron  George  Rosenkranz,  lord  high  chancellor  ;  all 
ruling  the  kingdoms  carefully,  and  taking  the  utmost 
interest  in  educating  the  young  king,  and  inspiring  him 
with  good  and  firm  principles.  He  was  not  only  taught 
Latin,  German,  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  but  also 
mathematics,  in  which  he  made  great  proficiency. 
Early  manifesting  a  great  propensity  to  naval  affairs, 
he  exercised  himself  in  them  on  Lake  Skander- 
burg,  in  Jutland,  where  a  ship  was  built  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  thu««  in  his  youthful  years  acquiring  no  little 
insight  into  the  science  of  naval  affairs.  He  was  often 
charged,  under  his  minority,  to  consider  and  make 
answer  to  embassies,  and  give  audience  to  the  foreign 
officers  who  came  to  Denmark  ;  and  he  often  sat  in 
council  to  profit  by  what  passed.  After  having  attained 
the  legal  age  prescribed  by  the  Danish  law  (eighteen) 
a.  d.,  Christian  IV.  assumed  the  government ;  the  old, 
1596.  dignified  counsellor  of  state,  Niels  Kaas,  address- 
ing him  in  the  following  soul- moving  words  :  "  By  vir- 
tue of  my  office,  I  hereby  deliver  to  your  Majesty  the 
key  to  that  vault,  where  the  royal  crown,  the  imperial 
globe,  and  the  golden  sceptre  have  been  preserved  since 
the  death  of  your  royal  father  of  glorious  memory.     Let 


270  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  crown  never  fall  from  your  head,  grasp  the  globe 
with  genius  and  circumspection,  wield  the  sceptre 
with  wisdom  and  justice,  and  impair  no  man's  well  won 
privileges.  May  our  Grod,  the  King  of  kings,  and  the 
Lord  of  lords  enlighten  you,  and  fill  you  with  wisdom 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  your  two  kingdoms,  and  may 
you  never  forget  the  great  account  you  have  to  make  in 
the  last  day.  May  your  Majesty  be  crowned  abundantly 
with  all  the  blessings  of  this  life !"  Christian  IV.  now 
commenced  his  reign,  after  having  sealed  and  subscribed 
a  charter  corresponding  altogether  with  that  of  his  father, 
and  has  distinguished  himself  among  the  sovereigns  of 
the  North  by  the  superiority  of  his  talents,  and  the  zeal 
that  he  showed  in  reforming  the  different  branches  of 
the  administration.  He  is  often  compared  by  histo- 
rians with  his  cotemporary,  the  magnanimous  Grustavus 
Adolphus,  who  raised  Sweden  to  the  summit  of  its  great- 
ness, and  whose  very  name  has  awakened  in  generous 
hearts  the  liveliest  emotions  of  respect  and  admiration. 
Christian  IV.  was  a  remarkable  linguist,  illustrious 
commander,  and  an  indomitable,  fearless  soldier  ;  but 
whether  he  was,  as  Gustavus  Adolphus,  an  exemplary 
Christian,  we  are  permitted  to  entertain  some  doubts ; 
and  when,  therefore,  a  Danish  historian,  Frederick  Sne- 
dorph,  says :  "  I  boldly,  in  every  respect,  compare  him 
with  Gustavus  Adolphus,"  we  believe  he  asserts  too 
much.  After  having  assumed  the  government  himself, 
he   married   the   Prussian  princess,   Anna  Catharine 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  271 

whereafter  his  mother,  the  noble-minded  queen-dowager 
Sophia,  repaired  to  Nykjobing  palace,  on  the  island  of 
Falster,  with  which  the  king,  her  son,  had  presented 
ner,  and  where  she  lived  in  the  exercise  of  secret 
charity  till  her  death,  in  1631. 


II. 

1596—1660. 

Christian  IV. — Care  and  interest  for  Norway — Variance  with  Sweden — Calmar 
War — Peace  at  Knccrod — He  encourages  Science  and  the  Arts — Commer- 
cial Affairs — Discoveries — Regulation  of  the  Post  Affairs — Manufactures- 
Buildings — Participation  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War — Battle  by  Lutter,  near 
the  Barenberg — Peace  of  Liibeck — Dissatisfaction  amongst  the  Peasantry 
and  Burgher  Class  with  the  Aristocracy — Dispute  with  Hamburg — Sound 
Dues  at  Elsenore — War  with  Sweden — Inroad  of  the  Swedish  General, 
Torstenson — Battle  at  Colberg — Peace  of  Bromsebro — Frederick  III. — 
Election  of  King— The  Charter— Alliance  with  Holland— Corfitz  Ulfeldt-  - 
Rupture  with  Sweden — Peace  of  Roeskilde — Renewal  of  the  War — 
Siege  of  Copenhagen — Admiral  Opdam — Battle  at  Nyborg — Peace  01 
Copenhagen. 

After  having  taken  his  seat  at  the  helm  of  govern- 
ment, Christian  IV.  commenced  to  act  with  great  dili- 
gence and  vigor,  paying  a  particular  attention  to  the 
many  complaints  that  in  Norway  had  been  put  up 
against  the  oppressive  treatment  of  the  royal  bailiffs, 
who,  when  found  guilty,  were  punished  and  deposed. 
Upon  the  whole,  there  was  a  prepossession  of  mind 
about  him  in  favor  of  this  kingdom,  which  he  during  his 
reign  visited  fifty  times.  Under  the  title  of  Cap-  a.  d., 
tain,  he  sailed  straight  to  Kola,  in  Russia,  and    1699 


272  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

at  Vardo  ran  the  risk  even  of  his  life,  his  ship  run- 
ning aground  and  losing  the  keel ;  but  he  succeeded  in 
getting  off,  without  receiving  any  injury.  Sweden  for 
some  time  having  disagreed  with  Denmark  concerning 
the  northern  bounds  of  Norway,  Christian  IV.,  for  getting 
an  exact  knowledge  about  this  important  matter,  sailed 
himself  by  North  Cape  and  along  the  coast  of  Finn- 
mark,  where  the  Norwegian,  Swedish,  and  Russian 
borders  are  adjoining  to  each  other.  The  misunder- 
standing increased,  when  Charles  IX. ,  a  son  of  Grus- 
tavus  Erikson  Yasa,  having  received  the  Swedish  crown, 
which  he  had  long  been  striving  for,  assumed  the  title, 
"  King  of  the  Norwegian  Laplanders,"  and  even  levied 
taxes  in  Finnmark,  and  posted  placards  on  the  custom- 
house of  Elsenore,  forbidding  the  Danish  vessels  to 
trade  in  Lifland  and  Curland.  The  dignity  of  the 
Danish  crown  being  hereby  highly  offended,  a.  d., 
Christian  IY.  declared  war  against  Sweden,  and  161L 
marched  a  powerful  army  against  the  strong  fortress, 
Calmar,  which  after  a  terrible  siege  of  three  months 
had  to  surrender,  although  the  old  and  brave  Swedish 
king,  Charles  IX.,  spared  no  labor,  and  even  hazarded 
his  own  person,  in  rescuing  this  principal  Swedish 
place  of  arms.  The  taking  of  Calmar,  which  has  given 
this  war  the  name  of  the  Calmar  War,  exasperated 
the  old  Charles  IX.  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  wrote  a 
very  unpolite  letter  to  Christian  IY.,  in  which  he  even 
challenged  the  Danish  king  to  fight  a  duel.     In  reply  to 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  273 

this  letter,  Christian  told  him,  that  it  would  he  much 
better  for  him,  being  now  so  far  advanced  in  years,  to 
sit  like  an  old  woman  behind  a  warm  stove,  than  to 
risk  a  blow  with  a  vigorous  man,  even  abusing  him  in 
calling  him  a  crafty  old  knave.  Shortly  after,  October 
30th,  1611,  died  Charles  IX.,  his  son,  the  great  Grus- 
tavus  Adolphus  now  assuming  the  Swedish  government 
on  the  26th  of  December,  1611.  Quitting  now  the 
council  board  for  the  scene  of  battle,  Grustavus  Adolphus 
stormed  Christianopel,  the  principal  depot  of  arms  in 
Skane,  and  re-conquered  Oeland.  Nevertheless,  the 
war  continued  successful  for  Denmark,  Christian  IY. 
taking  by  storm  the  Swedish  fortresses,  Guldborg  and 
Elfsborg,  and  demolishing  the  large  city,  Gothenborg, 
which  Charles  IX.  had  erected ;  also  at  sea  the  Danes 
had  the  preponderancy  in  this  war.  The  king  of  Swe- 
den had  now  levied  1,400  Scottish  soldiers,  as  auxiliary 
troops,  who,  headed  by  Colonel  Sinclair,  from  Caithness- 
shire,  Scotland,  landed  in  Norway,  devastating  whereso- 
ever they  went,  and  rushing  forth  like  madmen.  The 
Norwegian  peasants,  highly  provoked  at  their  plunder- 
ings  and  cruelties,  took  up  whatsoever  arms  they  could 
lay  hold  of,  boldly  encountering  the  Colonel  and  his 
A  D  Scotsmen  in  G-uldbrandsdalen  (the  Guldbrand 
1612.  valley),  in  a  mountainous  pass  called  Kringelen, 
south  of  the  mountain  Dovrefield,  where  the  Scottish 
chief  and  his  1,400  soldiers,  save  two,  in  the  most  horrible 
massacre  were  formally  butchered.  The  one  went  home 
to  Scotland  to  tell  his  countrymen  of  the   desperate 


274:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

bravery  with  which  the  people  of  the  North  had  de- 
fended their  national  rights;  the  other  remained  in 
Norway,  where  he  founded  a  glass  furnace.  In  memory 
of  that  heroic  exploit,  a  monument  has  been  erected 
with  the  following  plain  inscription :  "  Here  was  Colo- 
nel Sinclair  shot  on  the  26th  of  August,  1612." 

A  Norse  ballad,  composed  by  the  Norwegian  poet 
Storm,  has  immortalized  this  ill-fated  Sinclair  expedi- 
tion, and  it  still  resounds  up  to  this  very  day  from  the 
lips  of  the  peasants  throughout  old  Norway,  of  which  a 
free  English  translation,  from  tbe  pen  of  a  poet  whose 
name  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain,  well  deserves  to 
be  quoted : 

"  To  Norway  Sinclair  steered  his  course 

Across  the  salt  sea-wave, 
But  in  Kringelen's  mountain-pass 

He  found  an  early  grave. 
To  fight  for  Swedish  gold  he  sailed, 

He  and  his  hireling  band  : 
Help,  God !  and  nerve  the  peasant's  arm 

To  wield  the  patriot  brand. 
'Neath  the  pale  moon,  the  billowy  surge 

Around  the  tall  ship  broke, 
When  from  the  deep  the  mermaid  rose, 

And  thus  to  Sinclair  spoke  : — 
1  Speed  back,  speed  back,  thou  Scottish  yooto. 

My  warning  do  not  spurn ; 
For  if  thou  touchest  Norway's  strand, 

Thou  never  shalt  return.' 
*  Vile  wretch,'  the  angry  chief  replied, 

'  Thou  ever  bodest  ill. 
If  I  but  had  thee  in  my  power, 

Thy  heart's  blood  I  would  spill.' 
Three  days  he  sailed  the  stormy  sea ; 

The  fourth  day  saw  him  land, 


HISTORY   OP   SCANDINAVIA.  275 

Witii  twice  seven  hundred  stalwart  men, 

Equipped  with  spear  and  brand 
He  flung  his  banner  to  the  breeze, 

Laid  many  a  hamlet  low, 
And  marked  his  route  with  blood  and  spoil, — 

The  mercenary  foe. 
The  warriors  of  the  land  are  far, 

They  and  their  kingly  lord ; 
But  shall  her  peasant  sons  not  rise, 

And  draw  the  avenging  sword  ? 
On  rock  and  hill  the  beacons  blazed, 

1  Up,  Norsemen  !'  was  the  cry  ; 
And  at  the  summons,  mustering  strong, 

They  met,  to  do  or  die. 
In  ambush  close,  'mong  Gulbrand's  cliffs, 

Five  hundred  rifles  lay  ; 
The  vulture  smelt  the  game  afar, 

And  hastened  to  his  prey. 
The  fated  band  are  in  the  pass ; 

Up  rose  the  peasants  round, 
And  poured  on  them  a  storm  of  fire, 

When  Sinclair  bit  the  ground. 
Woe  to  his  hapless  followers  now  ! 

By  hundreds  dropping  fast, — 
They  fell  as  thick  as  autumn  leaves 

Before  the  polar  blast. 
In  slaughtered  heaps  their  bodies  lay 

By  Lougen's  darksome  flood, 
While  the  ravens  fr<5m  a  thousand  hilla 

Gorged  in  the  feast  of  blood. 
They  lay  unburied  where  they  fell, 

4.  sad  and  ghastly  show, 
Until  the  storm-king  pity  took, 

And  shrouded  them  in  snow. 
Oh !  many  a  maid  and  mother  wept, 

And  father's  cheek  grew  pale, 
When  from  the  two  survivors'  lips 

Was  heard  the  startling  tale. 
A  monument  yet  marks  the  spot, 

Which  points  to  Sinclair's  bier, 
And  tells  how  fourteen  hundred  men 

Sunk  in  that  pass  of  fear." 


276  HISTORY   OP   SCANDINAVIA. 

As  commonly  stated  and  generally  believed,  the  num- 
ber of  Sinclair's  men  was  1,400.  However,  this  is  most 
likely  an  exaggeration,  as,  from  the  best  historic  sources, 
the  real  number  was  only  900.  The  learned  Scotsman 
Mr.  Laing,  so  well  versed  in  Northern  antiquities,  even 
thinks  that  the  number  did  not  exceed  150  men.  Upon 
the  intelligence  of  that  frightful  defeat,  Grustavus  a.  d., 
Adolphus  made  peace  with  Denmark  in  Kncerod,  1613 
in  the  province  of  Halland,  on  the  following  terms,  so 
advantageous  for  Denmark :  both  kingdoms  were  per- 
mitted to  use  three  crowns  in  their  coat  of  arms  ;  the 
king  of  Sweden  was  not  to  call  himself  king  of  the 
Laplanders,  nor  to  exact  tribute  in  the  Norwegian  Finn- 
mark  ;  Sweden  had  to  pay  to  Denmark  one  million  of 
rix-dollars. 

But  Christian  IV.  was  not  so  successful  in  the  Thirty 
Year's  War,  during  wrhich  he  undertook  the  defence  of 
the  Protestant  party  against  the  German  emperor 
Ferdinand  of  Steiermark,  who  was  a  zealous  Catholic ; 
and  the  Protestants  of  Bohemia,  who  had  suffered  under 
the  government  of  his  predecessor,  Matthias,  were  appre- 
hensive of  still  greater  restraint  under  Ferdinand.  The 
religious  dissensions  continued  daily  to  increase  in  ac- 
rimony and  animosity,  and  at  length  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  leagues  plunged  Grermany  into  a  civil  war  of 
thirty  year's  continuance  (1618-1648),  the  horrors  of 
which  make  the  very  flesh  quiver.  The  Bohemians  de- 
posed Ferdinand  EL,  and  chose  Frederick  V.,  of  Pfalz, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  277 

the  elector  Palatine,  son-in-law  of  the  English  king, 
James  L,  for  their  sovereign ;  but  Frederick  soon  lost 
the  battle  of  White  Hill,  near  Prague,  7th  November, 
1620,  where  the  imperialists  determined  the  fate  of  Pro- 
testantism in  Bohemia,  the  emperor  compelling  Fred- 
erick to  seek  refuge  in  Holland,  and  banishing  the 
Protestant  clergy  from  the  country.  Thirty  thousand 
families  were  driven  out,  and  had  to  flee  to  the  Pro- 
testant states  of  Saxony  and  Brandenburg.  The  Pro- 
testant party  now  seeing  its  future  shrouded  in  the 
darkest  gloom  of  an  impending  tempest,  and  almost 
overpowered  by  the  imperialists,  formed  a  new  Pro- 
testant union,  of  "which  Christian  IV.  was  chosen  the 
head,  and  the  war  burst  forth  with  fresh  violence.  Eng- 
land, Holland  and  France  also  encouraged  the  gallant 
Danish  king  to  defend  the  oppressed  Protestants,  promis- 
ing him  support  of  money  and  troops.  Relying  on  these 
promises,  and  actuated  by  compassion  toward  the  un- 
a.d.,   happy  Protestants,  the  Danish  king  was  made 

1625-  captain-general  of  Lower  Saxony,  and  crossed 
the  Elbe  with  an  army  of  25,000  men,  joined  by  7,000 
Saxons ;  but,  after  some  successes,  the  king  fell  head- 
long with  his  horse  from  the  high  ramparts  of  the 
fortress,  Hameln,  in  Hanover,  which  accident  for  a  time 
disabled  him  from  leading  his  army,  and  shortly  after  he 

A.  d.,   was  defeated  by  the  imperial  general,  Tilly,  near 

1626-  Lutter-am-Barenberg,  (August  26,  1626,)  with 
the  loss  of  4,000  men,  the  imperial  general  being  far 


278  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

superior  to  his  Protestant  adversaries.  Nevertheless  it 
deserves  to  be  remarked,  that  the  Danish  army  fought 
with  the  most  undaunted  bravery,  the  king  himself 
setting  forth  a  glorious  example.  By  the  two  imperial 
commanders,  Tilly  and  Wallenstein,  the  Danes  were 
in  the  following  year  driven  from  Germany,  and  the 
imperial  troops,  consisting  of  100,000  men,  overflowed 
the  whole  of  Holstein,  Schleswig  and  Jutland,  so  that 
Christian  IV.,  threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  own  a.  d., 
dominions,  was  forced  to  purchase  peace  in  Lii-  1629- 
oeck  by  renouncing  all  right  to  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  Germany,  and  on  the  condition  of  abandoning  his 
.  German  allies,  especially  the  Duke  of  Mecklenburg. 
Furthermore,  Christian  had  to  resign  his  pretensions  to 
the  dioceses  of  Bremen,  Verden,  and  Schwerin,  which 
he  had  acquired  for  his  sons,  Frederick  and  Ulrik. 

Thus  ended  the  Danish  period  of  the  thirty  years'  war, 
which  undoubtedly  would  have  been  more  successful 
for  the  brave  Danish  king  had  he  been  assisted  by  his 
allies  according  to  their  promise ;  but  the  Duke  of 
Jauneburg  treacherously  fell  off,  and  Charles  /.,  of  Eng- 
land, who  in  1625  had  ascended  the  British  throne, 
was  almost  immediately  involved  in  a  contest  with  his 
parliament,  which  diverted  his  attention  from  foreign 
affairs.  But  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden, 
perhaps  the  greatest  and  noblest  warrior  the  world  has 
seen,  often  called  the  Lion  of  the  North  and  the  bul- 
wark of  the  Protestant  faith — to  him  it  was  reserved  to 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


279 


be  the  deliverer  of  the  Protestants.  He  taught  the 
haughty  emperor,  whose  general,  Wallenstein,  in  deri- 
sion called  him  the  Snow-King,  that  the  snow  does  not 
easily  thaw  in  the  North,  defeating  his  mighty  armies 
in  almost  every  engagement,  until  at  Ltitzen,  a  small 
town  of  the  present  Prussian  Saxony,  on  the  16th  of 
November,  1632,  he  was  shot  through  the  left  arm, 
body  and  head,  and  wounded  in  four  other  places  before 
he  died.  But  even  in  death  he  conquered,  and  for  about 
sixteen  years  after,  his  spirit  led  his  country's  hosts  to 
victory,  until  the  emperor,  tired  of  an  unsuccessful  war, 
concluded  the  remarkable  peace  of  Westphalia,  in  the 
year  1648,  the  religious  dissensions  being  finally  put  an 
end  to.  The  three  religions,  the  Catholic,  the  Lutheran, 
and  the  Reformed,  were  equally  established. 

Although  the  terms  of  peace  were  not  severe  for  Den- 
mark, yet  this  war  of  four  years'  continuance,  made  with 
great  efforts  and  enormous  expenses,  had  desolated  the 
Danish  countries  and  destroyed  some  of  the  most  opu- 
lent and  flourishing  towns.  Industry  was  at  a  stand, 
agriculture  neglected,  commerce  and  manufactures  to- 
tally annihilated.  Hamburg  had  arrogated  to  itself  a 
right  called  jus  restringendi ;  that  is,  that  all  the  inhabi- 
tants along  the  Elbe  should  carry  their  merchandises  to 
Hamburg  and  there  sell  them  for  such  a  price  as  the 
Hamburg  merchants  thought  proper  to  prescribe.  To 
this  despotic  act  the  vigilant  and  active  king  Christian 
sought  to  put  a  stop  by  erecting  the  fortress  Gluckstadt, 


280  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

where  he  levied  toll  on  all  the  vessels  which  trafficked 
with  Hamburg,  which  now,  after  its  fleet  was  a.d., 
defeated  on  the  Elbe,  had  to  submit,  and  even  1643 
pay  down  an  indemnity  of  two  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  rix-dollars.  Denmark,  at  length,  gradually 
recovering  from  her  wounds  and  misfortunes,  became 
again  a  powerful  and  wealthy  nation,  so  much  the  more 
as  Christian  IV.,  for  remedying  the  evils  of  the  war  and 
the  scarcity  of  money,  through  several  years  had  raised 
the  sound  dues  at  Elsenore.  But  Holland  and  Sweden, 
highly  displeased  with  this,  watched  eagerly  for  a  proper 
opportunity  to  deprive  Denmark  of  the  Eastern  Sound 
provinces,  and  a  most  formidable  combination  seemed 
now  ready  to  overwhelm  Christian  IV.,  under  which  a 
monarch  of  less  spirit  and  ability- than  himself  must 
certainly  have  succumbed  at  once.  Axel  Oxenstjern, 
chancellor  of  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  and  during  the 
minority  of  queen  Christina,  daughter  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  commissioned  governor  of  the  Swedish  realm, 
a  statesman  whom  posterity  considers  a  man  second  to 
none,  resolved  to  weaken  the  power  of  Denmark  by  a 
sudden  invasion,  commanding  the  famous  Swedish 
general,  Lennert,  Torstenson,  to  leave  Germany,  and, 
without  any  declaration  of  hostilities,  to  carry  the  torch 
of  war,  into  the  very  heart  of  Denmark.  Christian  IV. 
had,  indeed,  long  dreaded  Sweden's  hostile  intentions,  but 
the  careless  senate  and  nobility,  having  placed  too  many 
restrictions   on  his   power,   would   not  grant  him  the 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  281 

necessary  pecuniary  means  to  put  the  kingdom  into  a 
due  posture  of  defence.  Torstenson,  therefore,  meeting 
with  no  obstacles,  burst  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning 
into  Holstein,  Schleswig  and  Jutland,  another  division 
of  the  Swedish  army  making  an  inroad  into  the  Danish 
provinces  in  Sweden,  Skane,  Halland  and  Bleking ;  and 
had  these  two  mighty  armies  jointly  come  over  to  the 
Danish  islands,  which,  however,  the  insecure  state  of 
the  ice  and  the  activity  of  the  Danish  fleet  prevented, 
it  had  been  all  over  with  Denmark.  But  all  the  towns 
and  castles  in  the  two  duchies  of  Holstein  and  Schles- 
wig, except  Grliickstadt,  had  to  surrender  to  the 
advancing  Swedes ;  and  Rendsburg,  on  the  Eider, 
one  of  the  strongest  Danish  fortresses,  opened  its 
gates  to  the  enemy,  and  in  the  month  of  January, 
1644,  Torstenson  stood  on  the  Middlefartssound,  a  point 
of  the  island  of  Funen.  Under  all  these  perilous  cir- 
cumstances the  old  king,  Christian,  did  not  relax  in  any 
of  his  royal  duties,  but  evinced  the  most  indefatigable 
activity,  making  everywhere  in  the  provinces  the  most 
needful  defensive  preparations,  and  despite  his  advanced 
age,  now  almost  seventy  years  old,  going  on  board  his 
fleet  to  command  in  person,  and  keeping  a  strict  eye 
upon  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  But  everything 
seemed  to  look  very  gloomy  for  Denmark.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  Kattegat,  in  the  Swedish  peninsula, 
Gustavus  Horn,  field-marshal  of  Sweden,  and  general 
Lars  Kagge,  with  an  army  of  fourteen  thousand  horso 


282  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

and  foot,  had  made  an  irruption  into  Skane,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1644.  Horn  occupied  Helsing- 
borg,  situated  on  the  sound,  across  from  Elsenore,  and 
after  having  defeated  the  Danish  troops  who  ventured 
into  the  field,  he  took  Landscrona,  a  seaport  in  Skane, 
whence  he  advanced  to  the  siege  of  Malmo,  a  very- 
strong  fortress,  defended  on  the  landside  with  walls, 
ditches  and  bastions,  and  on  the  seaside  by  a  strong 
castle,  whither  the  brave  old  Danish  king,  with  numerous 
forces,  had  repaired,  which  enabled  the  garrison  to  defy 
the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Swedes.  But  in  the  mean- 
time a  fleet  arrived  from  Holland  to  assist  the  Swedes, 
obliging  the  Danes  to  raise  the  blockade  of  Gothenburg, 
which  king  Christian  had  commenced ;  but  the  Danish 
fleet  encountering  it  off  the  coast  of  Jutland,  prevented 
it  from  transporting  Swedish  troops  into  the  island  of 
Funen,  and  compelled  the  Hollanders  to  take  refuge 
under  the  island  of  Sylt,  on  the  west  coast  of  Schleswig, 
where  they  were  cannonaded  by  the  gallant  Danish 
king.  Meanwhile  the  Swedish  fleet,  numbering  forty 
men-of-war,  put  to  sea,  under  the  command  of  Admiral 
Claus  Flem-ming,  a  tried  naval  officer,  and  having 
arrived  on  the  coast  of  Holstein,  near  the  island  of 
Femern,  met  the  Danish  fleet,  numbering  thirty  a.  d., 
men-of-war.  On  the  6th  of  July  a  terrible  1644 
engagement  took  place,  king  Christian,  despite  his  old 
age,  commanding  in  person.  The  king  himself,  stand- 
ing at  the  foot  of  the  mast  of  his  admiral  ship,   and 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


283 


encouraging  his  mariners  to  persevere  manfully  to  the 
end,  was  dangerously  wounded,  losing  an  eye  and  two 
teeth,  a  splinter  from  the  ship  having  killed  twelve  men 
immediately  around  him.  The  king,  however,  con- 
tinued to  command  until  the  enemy  was  put  to  flight. 

This  glorious  victory  has  given  rise  to  the  magnificent 
Danish  war-song,  composed  by  the  Danish  poet,  Ewald, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  translation,  made  by  Prof. 
Longfellow  : 

KONG  CHRISTIAN  STOD  VED  HOIEN  MAST. 

(King  Christian  stood  by  the  High  Mast.) 


King  Christian  stood  by  the  high  mast, 

'Mid  smoke  and  spray ; 
His  fierce  artillery  flashed  so  fast 
That  Swedish  wrecks  were  round  him  cast. 
And  lost  each  hostile  stern  and  mast 

'Mid  smoke  and  spray. 
Fly,  Swedes,  fly!     No  hope  to  win 
"Where  Christian  dauntless  mingles  in 
The  fray!^ 

Niels  Juul  beheld  the  tempest  grow. 

"The  day  is  right!" 
Aloft  he  bade  the  red  flag  glow, 
And  shot  for  shot  he  dealt  the  foe. 
They  shout,  whilst  fiercest  perils  grow, 

"The  day  is  right!" 
Fly,  Swedes,  in  safest  refuge  hide; 
What  arm  shall  stand  'gainst  Christian's  pride 
In  fight? 

O  North  Sea !    Vessel's  thunders  light 
Thy  murky  sky ! 


284  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

His  foemen  shrunk  with  strange  affright, 
For  death  and  terror  round  him  fight; 
Sad  Gothland  hears  the  bolts  that  light 

Thy  murky  sky  ! 
He  gleams,  proud  Denmark's  shaft  of  war. 
The  foe  must  own  his  brightest  star: 
They  fly ! 

Thou  road  for  Danes  to  power  and  praise, 

Dark  heaving  wave! 
Receive  thy  friend,  by  valor's  rays 
Led  through  thy  wild  and  boisterous  ways  f 
Guide  the  bold  youth  to  power  and  praise, 

Dark  heaving  wave  ; 
And  free,  through  storm  and  tempest,  through 
Dangers  and  glory,  waft  him  to 
His  grave! 

It  affords  me  much  pleasure  to  quote  this  excellent 
translation,  in  which  the  Danish  original  has  not  lost 
more  of  its  power  than  is  the  case  with  every  transla- 
tion. But,  as  previously  stated,  everything  seemed  to 
look  dark  lor  Denmark,  and  the  victory  gained  hy 
Femern  was  only  a  momentary  Maze.  After  heing 
defeated,  the  Swedish  high  admiral,  Flemming,  repaired 
to  ChristianspruSj  now  called  Fredericksort,  to  repair 
damages,  where  he,  in  the  bay  of  Kiel,  was  immediately 
blockaded  by  the  Danish  fleet,  whence  the  Swedes 
could  not  escape  on  account  of  the  adverse  wind.  King 
Christian  opened  a  fierce  cannonade  upon  the  Swedish 
fleet  in  the  harbor,  in  which  bloody  engagement  the 
valiant  Swedish  admiral,  Flemming,  fell,  turning  over 
the  command,  before  he  expired,  into  the  hands  of 
Charles  Gustavus  Wr angel,  who  had  acquitted  himself 
in  the  most  satisfactory  manner  in  the  battle  of  Liitzen, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  285 

1632,  where  his  master,  the  great  and  noble  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  breathed  out  his  illustrious  life.  It  being,  of 
course,  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  keep  the  Sweiish 
fleet  enclosed  in  the  bay  of  Kiel,  to  prevent  it  from  uni- 
ting with  the  Hollandish  fleet,  commanded  by  Martin 
Thysen,  Christian  IV.  entrusted  this  important  matter  tc 
the  charge  of  admiral  Peter  Gait,  and  had  he  acted 
with  due  vigilance,  the  Swedish  fleet  would  have  been 
irretrievably  lost.  But  an  unpardonable  negligence  of 
Gait,  for  which  king  Christian  immediately  ordered  the 
admiral,  although  seventy-two  years  of  age,  to  be  be- 
headed, united  the  Swedish  naval  forces  with  the  Dutch 
squadron.  The  combined  fleet,  consisting  of  sixty-four 
men-of-war  in  all,  met  that  of  Denmark,  numbering 
seventeen  ships-of-war,  between  the  islands  of  Femern 
and  Laaland,  on  the  13th  of  October,  1644,  and  obtained 
over  it  so  complete  a  victory  that  only  two  men-of-war 
escaped,  and  the  heroic  Danish  admiral,  Prosmund,  fell, 
after  having  given  the  most  extraordinary  proofs  of 
dauntless  spirit.  The  combined  fleet  then  sailed  for 
Kieler  harbor  to  refit,  after  which  the  Hollanders  returned 
home.  At  length  the  emperor,  Ferdinand  III.,  envious 
and  jealous  of  the  progress  of  the  Swedes  in  Denmark, 
ordered  his  general,  Matthias  Gallas,  to  collect  all  his 
available  forces  in  Bohemia,  and  move  towards  Holstein. 
He  entered  Kiel,  and  obtained  some  few  other  unimpor- 
tant advantages,  but  the  Swedish  general,  Torstenson, 
offered  him  battle,  which  he  did  not  dare  to  accept; 


286  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

and  Grallas,  says  a  German  historian,  made  his  way  out 
of  Holstein,  having  actually  been  of  more  detriment  than 
benefit  to  the  Danes,  whom  he  had  been  sent  to  assist. 
The  misery  of  Denmark  increasing  day  by  day,  and  the 
Swedish  general,  Wrangel,  in  the  spring  of  1645,  as 
soon  as  the  season  would  permit,  taking  the  island  of 
Bornholm,  and  disputing  successfully  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Danish  seas,  while  Torstenson,  on  the  land,  kept 
most  of  the  Danish  islands  blockaded,  the  gallant  Danish 
monarch,  Christian  IV.,  was  compelled  to  makeA ug  13th 
a  disadvantageous  peace  at  Bromsebro,  on  the  A.  D., 
following  terms :  Sweden  should  be  exempted  1645' 
from  paying  Sound  Dues ;  Denmark  should  forevei 
renounce  her  claims  to  Herjedalen  and  Jemteland,  (two 
provinces  in  the  Swedish  district,  Northland,  Nor- 
landia),  also  to  the  two  islands  in  the  Baltic,  Oeland 
and  Gulland.  In  the  same  year  the  Danish  king  was 
also  compelled  to  adjust  a  pacification  with  Holland  in 
Christianopel,  where  the  Sound  Dues  for  the  Dutch 
merchantmen  were  considerably  abated. 

When  the  sanguinary  and  expensive  wars,  mainly 
arising  out  of  the  thirty  years'  war,  terminated,  the 
Danish  and  Norwegian  kingdoms  were  so  enfeebled  and 
harassed,  that  they,  during  the  last  three  years  of  the 
reign  of  Christian  IV.,  sunk  into  inactive  repose.  Such 
a  complete  change  in  all  commercial  transactions  had 
taken  place,  that  credit  was  shaken,  trade  injured, 
manufactures  checked,  the  public  treasury  exhausted, 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


287 


and  thousands  reduced  to  beggary.  Several  energetic 
measures  for  remedying  the  evils  of  the  war,  and  bring- 
ing the  countries  into  a  better  condition,  were  taken  by 
the  active  old  king;  but  meeting  with  opposition  and 
obstinacy  on  the  part  of  the  senate  and  the  nobility, 
which  had  been  invested  with  undue  power  and  influ- 
ence, they  all  sunk  into  nothing.  The  nobility  were 
displeased  with  the  king  for  bestowing  the  highest 
offices  alone  on  his  sons-in-law,  who  were  married  to 
daughters  of  his  concubine,  Christine  Munck,  with 
whom  the  king,  upon  the  death  of  his  queen,  Anna 
Catharina,  had  contracted  a  morganatic  marriage. 
Thus,  for  instance,  Count  Pentz  was  governor  of 
Holstein,  Hannibal  Sehestedt  governor  of  Norway,  and 
Corfitz  Ulfeldt,  married  to  the  king's  dearest  daughter, 
Eleonora  Christina,  was  lord  high  chancellor,  exer- 
cising an  all-powerful  influence  upon  state  affairs. 
Although  the  nobility  might  have  some  reason  for  com- 
plaining of  the  favor  shown  to  the  king's  bastards,  yet 
it  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  the  sad  condition  of  the 
kingdoms  was  owing  rather  to  the  many  restrictions 
which  the  nobility  had  placed  on  his  power,  than  to  any 
want  of  talent  in  the  king  himself;  the  nobility  continu- 
ally trying  to  restrict  the  royal  authority,  to  secure  the 
chief  powers  of  the  state  to  the  aristocracy,  and  destroy 
even  the  best  plans  of  the  king.  The  noblemen  had 
brought  their  influence  even  to  that  point  that  neither 
the  clergy  nor  the  burgher  class  and  peasantry  could 


288  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

write  any  application  to  the  king  unless  signed  by  a 
nobleman.  George  Dybvad,  theological  professor  at 
the  University  of  Copenhagen,  published  a  work  about 
this  unjust  tyranny,  but  the  nobility  convinced  the 
king  that  Dybvad's  modus  operandi  was  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  that  it  was  repug- 
nant to  their  privileges,,  and  the  king,  had  to  depose 
him  from  his  office.  Christopher  Dybvad,  not  intimi- 
dated by  his  father's  fate,  spoke  of  the  nobility  in  the 
bitterest  terms,  and  composed  a  work  in  which  he  con- 
demned the  prerogatives  of  the  nobility  as  destructive  to 
the  kingdom ;  but  he  was  imprisoned  for  life.  Even 
foe  best  efforts  of  the  king  for  the  improvement  of  his 
country  were  opposed  by  the  nobility.  He  tried  to 
improve  the  circumstances  of  the  peasantry,  but  met 
with  so  much  opposition,  that  he  was  forced  to  give  it 
up ;  and  his  anger  was  often  wound  up  to  such  a  pitch 
as  to  exercise  despotic  authority  against  some  noblemen. 
Thus,  for  instance,  baron  Christopher  Rosenkrantz  was 
beheaded  for  having  committed  only  a  trifling  fraud. 
Besides  all  these  disagreeable  terms  on  which  he  was 
with  the  nobility,  and  which  often  darkened  his  days, 
he  had,  in  his  old  age,  the  heart-rending  grief  a.  d., 
to  lose  his  eldest  son,  crown-prince  Christian,  1647- 
his  long  elected  successor  to  the  throne. 

"We  have  next  to  examine  the  king's  conspicuous 
abilities  in  leading  the  internal  affairs  of  his  kingdom. 
In  peace  he  was  as  unceasingly  active  as  in  war  and 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  289 

military  preparations.  Having  enjoyed,  himself,  a  care- 
ful education,  and  being  well  versed  in  languages,  both 
the  ancient  and  modern,  he  had  a  high  appreciation  of 
learning,  and  was,  therefore,  a  judicious  and  munificent 
patron  of  science  and  literature.  He  appointed  more 
professors  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen  than  before, 
furnished  the  University  with  new  incomes  taken  from 
the  ecclesiastical  estates,  which  were  vacant  from  the 
time  of  the  Reformation,  enlarged  the  University  library, 
and  built  a  spacious  building  called  Regentsen  (domus 
regia),  for  indigent  students.  The  Royal  Observatory 
of  Copenhagen,  called  the  round  tower,  was  built  at  the 
king's  expense,  and  a  botanic  garden  and  an  anatomical 
theatre  were  founded.  In  order  to  give  the  young 
noblemen  that  education  at  home  which  they  fre- 
quently sought  at  foreign  Universities,  Christian  IV. 
erected  in  the  town  of  Soro  an  Academy  (Academia 
Sorana),  exclusively  for  noblemen,  commanding  that 
for  the  future  no  nobleman  should  go  abroad  before 
reaching  the  nineteenth  ^  year  of  his  age.  Among  the 
learned  men  who  lived  during  the  reign  of  Christian  IV., 
we  ought  not  to  forget  to  name  Ole  Worm,  distin- 
guished both  as  physician  and  antiquarian ;  Caspar 
Bartholin,  a  famous  anatomist,  has  become  progenitor 
of  a  whole  generation  of  learned  men;  Tyclw  Brake, 
above  mentioned,  acquired  an  immortal  renown  by  his 
astronomical  researches  and  discoveries.  Longoman- 
tanus9  a  disciple  of  Tycho  Brahe,  gained  reputation  as  a 


290  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

great  mathematician.  Hans  Paulson  Resen  and'Eroch' 
man^  bishops  in  Denmark,  have  signalized  themselves 
by  deep  theological  learning,  of  whom  the  first  trans- 
lated  the  Bible  out  of  the  original  tongues ;  the  learned 
Icelandic  clergyman,  Arngrim  Jonson,  commenced  fun 
damentally  to  explain  the  remarkable  Icelandic  Edda, 
composed  by  Snorro  Sturleson,  A.  D.  1218,  and  con- 
taining the  system  of  the  Scandinavian  mythology,  and 
specimens  of  the  poetry  of  the  ancient  Northern  Skalds. 
Of  consequence  for  the  history  of  the  fatherland  was 
the  Chronicle  of  Denmark,  composed  and  published  by 
Arild  Hvitfeld,  a  short  time  lord  high  chancellor  of  the 
kingdom.  Also  royal  historiographers  were  appointed  ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  it  was  incumbent  on  them, 
as  a  duty,  to  write  in  Latin,  and  several  of  them,  as 
Meursius  and  Poritanus,  were  foreigners.  The  mother 
•tongue  as  yet  enjoyed  very  little  esteem,  nearly  all 
books  being  written  in  Latin.  Christian  IV.  being  also 
a  promoter  of  fine  arts,  prevailed  upon  Charles  van 
Mandern,  the  famous  Dutch  painter,  to  visit  Denmark, 
to  whom  the  church  of  Soro  owes  its  greatest  beauty. 
He  left  many  scholars  of  great  reputation,  who  distin- 
guished themselves  by  a  graceful  and  correct  design, 
and  several,  that,  in  one  single  department,  may  be 
found  to  surpass  even  Charles  van  Mandern.  The 
active  king  also  invited  foreign  enterprising  merchants 
and  mechanics  to  Denmark,  and  established  salt  and 
.saltpetre  manufactories,  paper  mills,  sugar  houses,  pow- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  291 

der  mills,  and  several  copper  works  in  Norway.  Under 
A.  d.,  him?  also,  were  the  important  silver  mines  near 
1623.  Kongsberg  in  Norway  discovered.  In  his  reign, 
also,  the  Danes  first  directed  their  attention  to  the 
Asiatic  trade,  and  founded  an  East  India  Company, 
and  tried  to  procure  possessions  in  the  East  Indies, 
the  king  dispatching,  for  that  purpose,  the  Admiral 
Ove  Gjedde,  to  the  island  of  Ceylon,  situated  in  the 
Indian  ocean.  This  attempt,  however,  proving  abor- 
tive, the  admiral  formed  a  commercial  establishment  at 
Tranquebar,  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  which  was 
ceded  to  the  company  by  the  rajah  of  Tanjore.  The 
king  also  attempting  all  means  possible  for  renewing 
the  navigation  to  Greenland,  which  already  in  the  tenth 
century  was  discovered  and  peopled  by  Norwegians 
from  Iceland,  the  navigation  to  it,  however,  being  inter- 
rupted by  the  frightful  disease  called  the  Black  Plague, 
under  Waldemar  IV.,  dispatched  the  captain,  Jens 
Munk.  to  Greenland,  where  he  established  the  Company 
of  Greenland,  which  earried  on  a  profitable  whale 
fishery  in  those  regions. 

That  Denmark's  own  inhabitants  might  profit  by  the 
Icelandic  trade,  which  the  greedy  Hanse  towns  and 
the  English  had  almost  exclusively  appropriated,  Chris- 
tian IV.  founded  the  Icelandic  Company.  Also,  many 
public  buildings,  cities,  and  fortresses  were  founded  by 
this  wise  monarch :  as  the  Merchants1  Exchange,  the 
Church  of  the   Trinity,  the  Church  for   Seamen,  the 


292  HISTORV     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Palace  of  Rosenborg,  and  the  splendid  palace  of  Frede- 
ricksborg,  sixteen  English  miles  from  Copenhagen, 
which  his  father,  Frederick  II.,  had  commenced.  He 
founded,  in  Norway,  Christiania,  the  present  capital  of 
Norway,  Christiansand,  and  Kongsberg  ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing fortresses :  Gluckstadt,  on  the  Elbe,  Christians- 
priiSj  now  called  Fredericksort,  at  the  bay  of  Kiel,  Chris- 
tianopel,  in  Bleking,  and  Christianstad,  in  Skane  ;  for 
the  greater  number  of  which  the  king  himself  made  the 
plans.  He  established  a  school  for  the  art  of  navigation, 
and  raised  a  standing  army,  consisting  of  five  thousand 
foot,  steadily  trained  in  military  exercises.  The  king 
himself,  very  skillful  in  the  art  of  ship-building,  modeled 
many  of  his  men-of-war,  which  were  considered  the 
most  beautiful  and  the  best  in  Europe  ;  and  the  Danish 
navy  was  in  an  excellent  condition,  and  the  strongest 
bulwark  of  both  kingdoms.  He  also  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  notwithstanding  his  limited  means,  he 
succeeded  in  diffusing  the  Christian  principles  through 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  East  Indies  ;  and  if  the 
Danish  East  India  Company  had  not  been  injured 
by  the  pertinacious  jealousy  of  the  Dutch,  who  excluded 
them  from  the  most  profitable  branches  of  trade,  he 
would  have  been  able  to  do  much  more.  It  may  not  be 
without  interest  to  learn  that  Christian  IV.  was  a  warm 
advocate  of  colonial  enterprise,  and  considering  America 
a  gold  mine,  the  idea  of  planting  a  colony  in  the  new 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  293 

world  held  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  mind  of  th« 
Danish  monarch ;  and  the  State  of  New  Jersey  was  first 
settled  by  the  Danes,  about  the  year  1624,  making  their 
abode  in  the  town  of  Bergen  ;  but  as  Peter  Stuyvesant, 
the  Dutch  Governor  of  New- York,  conquered  New 
Jersey  in  1655,  most  of  the  Danes  left  the  country. 
The  great  Grustavus  Adolphus,  of  Sweden,  conceived  the 
same  idea,  and  a  Swedish  colony  was  planted  in  162? 
in  the  State  of  Delaware ;  but  the  Dutch  disputing  the 
possession  of  it  with  them,  the  Swedes,  after  the  Dutch 
conquest,  1655,  returned  to  Sweden. 

He  was  a  great  hater  of  superstition  and  deceitful 
dealing,  and  the  years  1572-1648  were  signalized  in 
the  annals  of  Denmark  by  vehement  and  severe  trials  for 
witchcraft.  This  fanatic  and  shameful  delusion  went 
on  increasing  until,  in  the  city  of  Ribe,  in  Jutland,  not 
less  than  twelve  women  were  burned  alive.  After  a 
memorable  reign  of  sixty  years,  and  after  having  him- 
self governed  his  kingdoms  through  half  a  century, 
A.  d.,  Christian  IV.  died  on  the  28th  of  February,  1648, 
1648.  aged  seventy-one  years,  an  object  of  the  love  and 
affection  of  his  subjects,  and  of  the  honor  and  regard  of 
the  whole  of  Europe,  the  policy  of  which  he  often 
had  powerfully  influenced. 

Frederick  III.  After  an  interregnum  of  three  months 
Christian  IV.'s  second  son  succeeded  his  father  to  the 
throne  of  both  kingdoms,  by  the  name  of  Frederick  III. ; 
during  which  interval  the  state  affairs  were  controlled 


294  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

by  Corfitz  TJlfeldt,  lord  high  chancellor ,  Christian  Se* 
hested,  lord  high  treasurer,  Ove  Gjedde,  ord  high  admi- 
ral, and  Anders  Bilde,  commander-in-chief;  and  having 
first  sealed  and  subscribed  a  very  severe  charter,  restrict- 
ing the  royal  authority  much  more  than  before,  and 
increasing  the  power  of  the  nobility,  which  charter  has 
mainly  been  ascribed  to  TJlfeldt,  Frederick  III.  ascended 
the  throne.  The  events  of  the  last  time  having  shown 
how  dangerous  the  enmity  of  Holland  was,  the  king 
wisely  sought  to  persuade  that  realm  to  join  his  party  ; 
the  more  since  Sweden,  because  of  her  triumphs  in  the 
thirty  year's  war,  and  last  successful  war  with  Den- 
mark, almost  became  the  arbiter  of  the  European 
destiny,  and  was  elevated  to  a  pinnacle  of  glory  and 
power  which  proved  dangerous  to  Denmark's  peace  and 
security.  The  learned  and  intelligent  Corfitz  Ulfeldt, 
therefore,  was  sent  to  Holland  to  negotiate  an  alliance 
of  mutual  defence  against  every  enemy.  The  alliance 
made,  a  Treaty  of  Redemption  was  concluded,  accord- 
ing to  which  Holland,  instead  of  Sound  Dues  yearly,  had 
to  pay  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  florins.  Corfitz 
TJlfeldt,  towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Christian  IV., 
having  often  given  the  king  reason  to  be  displeased  with 
him,  and  lost  very  much  of  his  affection,  occupied  a 
position  yet  more  dangerous  and  slippery  during  Frede- 
rick III.  The  great  power  his  high  office  gave  him,  his 
immense  riches  and  high  connections,  struck  with  fear 
ana  jealousy  both  the  king  and  his  proud  queen,  Sophia 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  295 

Amalia,  a  princess  of  Brunswick  Liineburg,  who  ail 
the  time  was  cherishing  a  personal  aversion  and  dislike 
to  Ulfeldt's  lady,  Eleonora  Christina,  the  virtuous, 
handsome,  and  ingenuous  daughter  of  Christian  IV. 
A.  D.,  Upon  his  return  from  his  embassy,  with  the  re- 
1649.  guit  0f  which  the  king  on  the  whole  was  dis- 
pleased,  an  action  at  law  was  entered  against  him,  as 
he  had,  during  his  administration  of  the  finances,  been 
suspected  of  embezzlement  and  peculation ;  both  of 
which,  together  with  other  humiliations,  induced  him  to 
leave  the  court  entirely,  and  retire  to  private  life.  About 
the  same  time  a  lascivious  girl,  Dina  Winhofer,  being 
in  an  unbecoming  intimacy  with  Colonel  Walter,  in- 
formed the  king,  that  Ulfeldt  and  his  lady  had  prepared 
a  subtle  draught  for  his  Majesty.  This,  however,  being 
proved  false,  Dina,  on  the  11th  of  July,  1651,  was  pub- 
licly beheaded,  and  Walter  banished  ;  but  Corfitz  Ulfeldt 
continued  to  be  suspected  and  disliked,  wherefore  he, 
with  his  wife  and  four  sons,  suddenly  left  Denmark  for 
Holland.  King  Frederick,  highly  exasperated  at  his 
leaving  without  permission,  deposed  him  from  his  digni- 
ties and  deprived  him  of  his  estates  of  Hirchholm.  Cor- 
fitz Ulfeldt,  however,  not  thinking  himself  safe  in  Hol- 
land, fled  for  shelter  to  Sweden,  where  queen  Christina, 
fondly  attached  to  learned  and  talented  men,  received 
him  and  his  family  with  every  circumstance  of  honor 
But  here  he  became  guilty  of  treason,  not  alone  provo- 
king the  Swedish  king,  Charles  Gustavus  X.,  Christina's 


296  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

successor,  to  war  against  Denmark,  but  even  aiding  hnn 
in  making  inroads  into  the  Danish  dominions. 

Charles  Gustavus  X,  a  nephew  of  the  great  Grustavus 
Adolphus,  who,  at  the  abdication  of  Christina,  a.  d., 
seized  the  reins  of  government  of  Sweden,  pos-  1655- 
sessed  all  the  qualities  and  talents  requisite  to  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  uncle,  his  reign  being  one  succession 
of  hardy  enterprises  and  remarkable  exploits.  He 
indulged  the  martial  spirit  of  his  people  by  declaring 
war  against  Poland;  where  John  Casimir,  descended 
through  Sigismund,  his  father,  from  the  race  of  Vasa, 
revived  his  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Sweden,  pro- 
testing against  the  nomination  of  Charles  X.  Poland 
was  then  invaded  by  Charles  ;  the  progress  of  the 
Swedes  was  rapid  ;  they  obtained  two  brilliant  victories 
in  the  field,  captured  Cracow,  the  former  capital  of 
Poland,  and  compelled  the  terrified  John  Casimir  to  fly 
into  Silesia.  Thereafter  the  king  entered  Prussia, 
where  he  compelled  Frederick  William,  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  to  acknowledge  himself  the  vassal  of 
Sweden.  Meanwhile,  John  Casimir  having  returned  to 
Poland,  the  people  rushed  to  arms,  and  the  country  was 
on  the  point  of  being  reconquered  from  the  Swedes, 
when  Charles  X.  led  back  an  army  to  the  assistance  of 
his  troops,  and  fought  a  terrible  battle  near  Warsaw, 
1656,  which,  after  having  lasted  three  days,  was  ulti- 
mately decided  in  favor  of  the  Swedes,  and  Poland  had 
again  to   submit.      His   great   success   in   Poland  had 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA 


297 


already  excited  the  apprehensions  of  the  emperor  oi 
Austria,  of  Holland,  and  Brandenburg,  and  rekindled 
the  jealousy  of  Denmark,  which,  desirous  of  profiting  by 
the  complicated  embarrassments  of  Sweden,  and  hoping 
now  easily  to  regain  the  lost  provinces,  declared  a.  d., 
war  against  Sweden,  although  her  defensive  1657- 
affairs  were  in  the  most  miserable  condition.  But 
Charles  Grustavus,  who  had  fought  in  Germany  under 
the  illustrious  Torstenson,  soon  convinced  the  Danish 
king,  Frederick  III.,  that  he  was  able  to  chastise  his 
temerity.  Concluding  an  armistice  with  Poland,  he 
repaired  to  Pomerania,  and  then  into  the  duchy  of 
Bremen,  which  the  Danish  army  had  conquered.  Thence 
he  marched  with  12,000  men  into  Jutland,  where  the 
Danish  commander-in-chief,  Anders  Bilde,  defended 
the  fortress  of  Fredericia,  which,  however,  was  taken 
by  the  Swedish  general,  Herman  Wrangel,  who  was 
now  made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Sweden.  Charles 
Grustavus  X.,  with  astonishing  rapidity,  made  himself 
undisputed  master  of  Holstein,  Schleswig,  and  Jutland, 
the  treacherous  Ulfeldt,  who  was  minutely  acquainted 
with  the  interior  parts  of  the  country,  assisting  him 
with  his  advice  and  actual  help.  But  Charles  X.  could 
not  yet  pass  over  to  the  small  islands,  as  his  fleet, 
numbering  fifty-nine  men-of-war,  in  a  horrible  engage- 
ment with  the  Danish  navy  close  by  the  island  oi 
Falster,  was  so  cut  up  and  crippled  as  to  be  obliged 
to  make  port   to   refit,  this  disadvantage  being  about 


298  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  only  one  he  had  in  this  war,  while  the  prospects 
of  the  Danish  king  had  become  dark  as  midnight. 

After  being  defeated  at  the  island  of  Falster,  a.d., 
Charles  Grustavus,  in  the  month  of  January,  1658- 
drew  up  his  victorious  forces  on  the  shore  of  the 
Little  Belt,  which  was  completely  bridged  with  ice. 
The  extremely  rigorous  cold,  twenty-four  degrees  of 
Reaumur,  which  had  thus  fettered  the  strait,  still  con- 
tinuing, and  giving  no  signs  of  relaxing  in  severity, 
Charles,  having  tested  the  strength  of  the  ice,  and 
measured  its  thickness,  weighed  the  matter  carefully 
for  a  short  time  in  his  mind,  and  determined  to  pass 
over  it  with  his  army.  With  the  king  at  their  head, 
the  Swedish  troops,  numbering  20,000  men,  advanced, 
in  separate  columns,  accompanied  by  all  their  horses, 
baggage,  trains  and  artillery,  combating,  even  upon  the 
ice,  (where  two  divisions  of  his  dragoons  were  sub- 
merged and  drowned,)  the  detachments  of  the  Danish 
troops,  which  bravely  endeavored  to  arrest  their  advance, 
and  at  last,  victorious  over  the  enemy  and  the  ele- 
ments, Charles  Grustavus  entered  the  island  of  Fyen 
(Funen).  At  the  eastern  coast  of  Fyen,  separated  from 
the  island  of  Sjelland  (Zealand)  by  the  Great  Belt, 
the  Swedes  discovered  this  water,  sixteen  English  miles 
wide,  likewise  entirely  frozen.  Charles  at  once  de- 
termined to  attempt  the  passage,  taking,  nevertheless, 
such  precautions  as  prudence  demanded.  In  place  of 
crossing  directly  from  Fyen  to  Sielland,  where  the  cur- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  299 

rents  are  too  rapid  to  afford  sure  passage  on  the  ice,  rw 
marched  his  army  by  a  circuitous  route  between  the 
islands  of  Langeland,  Falster  and  Laaland,  where  the 
well  fortified  city  of  Nakskov,  imprudently  listening 
to  the  crafty  and  subtle  demonstrations  of  the  treach- 
erous Ulfeldt,  unresistingly  surrendered  to  the  Swe- 
dish king,  whose  cards  were  almost  all  trumps  in  this 
war.  Only  the  Danish  Admiral  Bredahl  distinguished 
himself  by  heroically  and  successfully  defending  the 
Danish  fleet,  which  was  ice-bound  in  the  gulf  of  Ny- 
borg.  At  length,  arrived  in  the  island  of  Sjelland,  the 
Swedes,  to  whom  the  ice  and  the  deep  snow  presented 
no  obstacles,  advanced  upon  Copenhagen,  a  prey  to  the 
greatest  terror,  and  unprepared  for  the  event  of  a  siege. 
In  fact,  so  general  was  the  consternation,  that,  within 
ten  days  after  the  landing  of  the  Swedish  army  in 
Sjelland,  Frederick  III.  sent  commissioners  to  the  city 
of  Wordingborg  to  negotiate  with  Charles  G-ustavus, 
whose  conditions,  however,  were  too  severe  to  be  agreed 
to  by  the  Danish  commissioners.  But  Charles  Grus- 
tavus,  tenax  propositi,  advanced  further  towards  Co- 
penhagen, and  Frederick  III.  had  to  offer  humiliating 
proposals  of  peace,  signed  by  the  commissioners  at  the 
small  village  of  Hoie  Tostrup,  eight  English  miles  from 
Copenhagen,  and  afterwards  affirmed  and  signed  by  the 
king  himself  in  the  definite  treaty  subsequently  con- 
a.  d.,  eluded  at  Roeskilde,  on  the  26th  of  February, 
1658.    1658.     So  humiliating  were   the  conditions  for 


300 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


Denmark,  and  so  glorious  for  Sweden,  that  one  of  the 
Danish  envoys  exclaimed,  as  he  affixed  his  signature, 
like  the  usually  cruel  Roman  emperor,  Nero,  when  a 
warrant  for  the  execution  of  a  criminal  was  brought  to 
be  signed:  "  Would  to  Heaven  that  I  had  never  learned 
to  write."  Said  peace  of  Roeskilde  was  concluded  on 
the  following  terms :  Denmark  should  give  over  to 
Sweden  Skane,  Holland,  Bleking,  Bahus,  Trondhjem, 
in  Norway,  and  the  island  of  Bornholm,  in  the  Baltic  ; 
as  also  deliver  twelve  men-of-war  and  two  thousand 
horsemen,  and,  finally,  replace  the  treacherous  Corfitz 
Ulfeldt  in  his  dignities.  Shortly  after  both  mon- 
archs  met  together,  for  the  first  time,  with  great  pomp 
and  ceremony,  at  a  splendid  entertainment  in  the  royal 
palace  of  Fredericksborg,  amusing  themselves  by  friendly 
conversation,  as  though  living  in  the  best  harmony. 
The  base  and  contemptible  Corfitz  "Ulfeldt  was  now  re- 
placed in  his  dignities,  his  estate,  Hirchholm,  restored  to 
him,  and  his  lady,  Eleonora  Christina,  was  granted  the 
title  of  Countess  of  Schleswig-Holstein. 

But  to  return  to  Charles  Grustavus.  Repenting  that 
he  had  omitted  the  convenient  opportunity  of  subduing 
all  Denmark  and  Norway,  and  pleading  that  the  two 
thousand  horsemen  had  not  been  delivered  duly  equip 
ped,  he  broke  the  peace  a  few  months  after,  landed  with 
his  army  in  Korsor,  and  advanced  upon  Copenhagen. 
But  this  insincere  peace,  which  proved  to  be  only  a 
suspension  of  arms,  stirred  up  a  new  spirit  among  the 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA,  301 

Danish  people,  now  uniting  the  most  enterprising  and 
heroic  spirit  with  the  greatest  prudence  and  moderation, 
and  clearly  comprehending,  that  it  had  come  to  sad 
extremities,  and  that  the  existence  of  Denmark  and 
Norway,  as  independent  states,  was  at  stake.  In 
Copenhagen  every  one  prepared  himself  for  the  most 
determined  defence ;  no  one  spared  himself ;  even  the 
young  students  of  the  University  took  up  arms,  the 
king's  own  example  being  the  most  effectual  encourage- 
ment to  the  promotion  of  a  courageous  defence.  Several 
citizens  advised  the  king  to  leave  the  capital,  but  he 
answered :  ht  Even  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  I 
vill  not  leave,  but  die  in  my  nest." 

Charles  Grustavus  X.  commenced  to  lay  siege  to  Co- 
penhagen, and  also  sent  a  body  of  hardy  Swedish  soldiers 
to  take  possession  of  the  important  fortress,  Kronborg;  it 
being  of  the  more  consequence,  as  a  strong  Dutch  fleet 
was  expected  to  relieve  the  besieged  city  of  Copenhagen. 
Wrangel  was  sent  to  besiege  the  fortress  of  Kronborg, 
which  he  took  from  Colonel  Beenfeldt  in  less  than  three 
weeks'  siege,  acquiring  thereby  enormous  booty  of  can- 
nons and  powder,  which  enabled  the  Swedes  to  carry  on 
the  siege  of  the  Danish  capital  with  yet  more  energy ; 
Charles  Grustavus  being  so  confident  of  winning  the 
horrible  game,  as  to  write  to  king  Frederick  III.  that 
his  life  and  liberty  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  Swedes,  and 
that  he  (Frederick)  might  easily  comprehend  that  Den- 
mark was  undone,  and   like  a  patient  past  recovery. 


302 


HISTOST     OP    SCANDINAVIA. 


But  king  Frederick  did  not  despair  ;  the  citizens  and 
students  of  Copenhagen  made  several  sudden  and  suc- 
cessful sallies  on  the  enemy;  and  three  patriots,  the 
engineer  Steenivinkel,  the  bailiff  Hans  Rostgaard,  and 
the  clergyman  Henry  Gerner,  hazarded  their  lives  for 
reconquering  Kronborg,  which,  however,  fell  short  of 
success,  their  patriotic  design  being  too  early  discovered. 
Steenwinkel  was  decapitated  by  the  enraged  Charles 
Grustavus,  Hans  Rostgaard  escaped  by  flight,  but  the 
magnanimous  minister  of  the  gospel,  Henry  Grerner, 
was  put  on  the  rack,  and  asked  questions  about  the 
plans  and  operations  of  the  Danish  army,  which  he, 
nevertheless,  obstinately  declined  revealing. 

Under  command  of  the  generals  Schack  and  Gylden- 
love,  the  chief  captain  of  the  city,  Thureson  and  the 
king  himself,  the  citizens  of  Copenhagen  continued  to 
defend  the  city  in  the  most  heroic  manner,  but  began 
soon  to  suffer  from  want  of  provisions.  Meanwhile 
the  Dutch  fleet  arrived,  under  Admiral  Opdam,  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Danes,  carrying  brave  soldiers  anJ 
plenty  of  victuals.  On  the  24th  of  October  the  a.  d., 
fleet  came  booming  through  the  narrow  sound,  1658 
under  a  terrible  shower  of  cannon  balls  from  Kronborg, 
whence  the  Swedish  general,  "Wrangel,  tried  to  prevent 
the  passage  of  Opdam  and  his  fleet,  but  in  vain.  After 
having  totally  defeated  "Wrangel,  Opdam  arrived  safe  in 
Copenhagen,  where  the  most  boundless  rejoicing  took 
place.  Te  Deums  were  sung  in  all  the  churches,  and 
fresh  spirit  and  courage  quickened  every  soul. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  308 

The  siege  having  lasted  half  a  year  without  any  is/?ue, 
Charles  Grustavus  now  resolved  to  take  the  capital  by  a 
general  storm  and  a  violent  onset,  making  the  most 
desperate  preparations,  and  promising  his  troops,  if 
victorious,  the  plunder  of  Copenhagen  for  three  days 
He  ordered  his  soldiers  to  put  on  white  shirts,  that  .he 
besieged  might  not  distinguish  them  on  the  snow-covered 
ground,  and  bade  them  not  to  spare  even  the  child  in 
A.  d.,   the  mother's  womb.    The  night  between  the  10th 

1659  and  11th  of  February  was  appointed  for  that 
wholesale  slaughter,  which  he  had  in  view.  But  the 
result  disappointed  his  expectations.  The  undaunted 
Frederick  III.  being  informed  of  the  plans  of  the  Swedes 
by  the  patriotic  Lorentz  Tuxen,  receiver  of  taxes  in 
Hirchholm,  made  the  most  skillful  preparations,  and  his 
military  talents  had  here,  undeniably,  the  noblest  field 
for  their  exertion,  as  his  antagonist,  Charles  Grustavus, 
was  deservedly  ranked  among  the  greatest  commanders 
in  Eur'  pe.  In  that  frightful  night  king  Frederick  III. 
was  present  himself  wheresoever  the  danger  was 
greatest,  and  the  talent  he  displayed  in  bringing  the 
siege  of  Copenhagen  to  a  happy  issue  has  immortalized 
his  memory,  as  well  as  that  of  its  brave  citizens.  Even 
the  queen,  the  proud  Sophia  Amalia,  arrayed  in  a  mili- 
tary dress,  was  all  the  night  on  horseback,  encouraging 
both  the  soldiers  and  citizens  to  shed  the  last  drop  of 
theii  "blood  for  king  and  fatherland. 

V  \ddened  by  the  thirst  for  victory,  the  Swedish  sol- 


304:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

diers  fought  with  a  bravery  almost  unheard  of;  the 
massacre  was  dreadful,  and  the  Swedish  historian,  La- 
gerbring,  says,  that  Charles  Grustavus  kept  up  so  con- 
stant a  discharge  of  artillery,  that  had  each  hundredth 
ball  hit  the  mark,  not  a  single  Dane  would  have  been 
left.  The  Danes,  excited  to  frenzy  by  the  agonies  their 
eyes  beheld  and  the  lamentations  their  ears  drank  in, 
fought  with  the  most  desperate  bravery,  and  after  a 
heroic  resistance  forced  Charles  Grustavus  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Copenhagen. 

For  the  important  services  the  citizens  of  Copenhagen 
had  rendered,  Frederick  III.  conferred  upon  them  great 
prerogatives  and  privileges,  equal  to  those  of  the  nobility. 
Few  enterprises  were  ever  more  deeply  weighed  than 
that  of  Charles  Gustavus,  few  preceded  by  more  im- 
mense preparations,  and  few,  perhaps,  ever  attended 
with  a  more  unfortunate  issue.  And  here  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  use  the  words  of  the  Spanish  writer, 
Bentivoglio :  "So  often  the  Divine  Providence,  in  the 
wisdom  of  his  impenetrable  decrees,  has  determined  the 
fate  of  an  enterprise  quite  contrary  to  the  presumptuous 
expectations  of  human  foresight."  Also,  in  other  places 
did  the  Swedes  suffer  great  losses.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  island  of  Bornholm  drove  out  the  Swedish  garrison, 
and  threw  off  the  Swedish  yoke.  Likewise,  from  the 
diocese  of  Trondhjem,  Norway,  the  Swedes  were  turned 
out,  and  the  citizens  of  Frederikshald,  Norway,  bravely 
defended  their  town  against  three  different  attacks  of 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  305 

the  Swedes.  Nakskow,  on  the  island  of  Laaland,  which 
in  the  former  war  so  rashly  had  surrendered,  now 
compensated  for  it  hy  a  heroic  and  obstinate  defence  of 
thirteen  weeks ;  even  the  small  island  Moen,  South  of 
Sjelland,  made  a  valiant  resistance.  Finally,  the  con- 
federated troops  arrived  to  the  assistance  of  Denmark  ; 
the  elector  Frederick  Wilhelm,  of  Brandenburg,  at  the 
head  of  thirty  thousand  men,  clearing  almost  the  whole 
peninsula  of  Jutland  from  enemies. 

Undaunted  by  all  these  misfortunes,  Charles  Gusta- 
vus,  although  finding  himself  surrounded  with  mighty 
enemies,  formed  a  new  plan  for  the  destruction  of  his 
hated  rival,  Frederick  III.  Marching  a  considerable 
body  of  soldiers  to  the  island  of  Fyen  (Funen),  where, 
close  by  the  city  of  Nyborg,  a  Danish  army  of  ten 
thousand  men  was  encamped,  .Charles  ordered  his  gene- 
ral, Count  Steenbuck,  to  attack  the  Danes  in  then 
intrenchments.  A  battle  was  now  inevitable,  and  both 
armies  prepared  for  the  contest  with  equal  courage. 
The  battle  was  brief,  but  fierce,  and  after  a  dreadful 
combat  of  about  four  hours'  duration,  the  Swedish  army 
was  irretrievably  ruined ;  four  thousand  of  their  best 
troops  were  left  dead  on  the  field,  three  thousand  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  about  two  thousand  of  the  fugitives 
were  soon  after  forced  to  surrender  on  the  coast,  from 
want  of  boats  to  cross  the  Great  Belt.  Only  General 
Steenbuck  escaped  by  flight.  When  intelligence  of  this 
defeat  was  conveyed  to  Charles  Gustavus,  who  tarried 


306 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


in  Korsor  in  Sjelland,  he  laconically  exclaimed  :  "  Since 
the  devil  has  taken  away  the  sheep,  he  might  as  well 
also  have  taken  the  buck."  Charles  Grustavus  now 
repaired  to  Gothenburg,  from  whence  he  made  an 
irruption  into  Norway,  but  without  avail,  only  to  iearn 
the  downfall  of  all  his  expectations.  Shortly  after,  he 
died,  in  ths  year  lf360,  full  of  grief  that  Ida  visionary 
designs  had  proved  unsuccessful ;  whereafter  negotia- 
tions for  peace  were  commenced  with  Sweden,  a.  d., 
and  a  treaty  was  concluded  in  Copenhagen  on  166°- 
the  27th  of  May,  on  terms,  which,  though  severe,  were 
more  favorable  than  Frederick  III.,  under  the  circum- 
stances, could  reasonably  have  hoped.  Sweden  retained 
Bahus,  as  also  the  three  fertile  provinces,  Skane,  Hal- 
land  and  Bleking,  which  Denmark  never  has  got  again ; 
only  Trondhjem  in  Norway,  and  the  island  of  Bornholm 
were  restored  to  Denmark,  the  execution  of  this  treaty 
being  guaranteed  by  Holland,  England  and  France. 
Thus  the  bloody  war  with  Sweden  terminated,  just  as 
Denmark  was  upon  the  very  brink  of  her  ruin. 


FOURTH   PERIOD 


FROM    THE    INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    ABSOLUTE    SOVEREIGNTY    UN- 
TIL the  year  1852.     1660—1863. 


I. 

1660—1766. 

Frederick  III. — The  Diet  of  Copenhagen — The  Charter  annihilated  and  Abso 
lute  Sovereignty  introduced — Kay  Lykke — Corfitz  Ulfeldt — Eleonora 
Christina — Dispute  with  Christian  Albrecht  of  Gottorp — Christian  V. — 
Acquisition  of  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst — War  with  Sweden  and 
France — Niels  Juel — Peace  of  Lund  and  Fontainebleau — Griffenfeldt— 
Ole  Romer — The  Peasantry — Oluf  Rosenkranz — Masius  and  Bagger — 
Frederick  IV. — War  witb  the  Duke  of  Gottorp — Peace  of  Travendal — 
Eleven  Years'  War  with  Sweden — Tordenskjold — Peace  of  Fredericsborg 
— Hostile  Terms  with  Russia — Hans  Egede — Science  and  the  Arts — 
Christian  VI. — The  Peasantry-*~Ecclesiastical  Affairs — School  Affairs- 
Science  and  the  Arts — The  Navy — Count  Danneskjold  Samso — Frederick 
V. — Hostile  Terms  with  Russia — Peter  III. — Manufactures — Commercial 
and  Financial  Affairs — The  Peasantry — Science  and  the  Arts. 

The  sanguinary  struggle  ended,  a  period  followed, 
scarcely  to  be  called  a  peace,  although  there  was  a  ces- 
sation from  open  hostilities.  Both  kingdoms,  Denmark 
and  Norway,  were  in  a  sadly  depressed  condition ;  the 
scene,  that  was  everywhere  presented,  was  a  wide  waste 
of  ruin;    the  countries  were  sunk   in  debt,    and  the 


30  S  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

soldiers  had  not  received  their  wages,  the  commercial 
affairs  were  decaying,  and  the  agriculture,  of  course, 
neglected.  The  nobility,  enjoying  all  privileges  and 
prerogatives,  would,  as  usual,  be  exempted  from  taxes, 
although  best  capable  of  paying  them,  and  the  popular 
frenzy  was  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch.  To  pacify 
the  minds  and  to  find  out  means  to  remedy  the  misera- 
ble condition  of  his  kingdoms,  King  Frederick  III. 
convoked  a  Diet  at  Copenhagen  on  the  8th  of  a.  d., 
September,  being  called  the  Revolution  of  Den-  166°- 
mark.  During  the  sitting  of  the  Diet  the  tyranny  and 
unbecoming  haughtiness  of  the  aristocracy  arose  to  such 
a  height,  that  the  clergy,  the  burgher  class,  and  the 
peasantry,  headed  by  Hannibal  Sehested,  the  only  no- 
bleman siding  with  the  king,  the  senator,  Henrik  Bjelke, 
the  honest  mayor  of  Copenhagen,  Nanson,  the  learned 
bishop  Svane,  and  pastor  Willadson  of  Slagelse,  voted 
for  the  surrender  of  sovereignty  to  the  king,  and  jan.  10, 
Frederick  III.,  at  the  close  of  the  Diet,  almost  a.d., 
without  any  effort  of  his  own,  was  thus  invested  166L 
with  absolute  power,  Denmark  being  now  as  absolute  a 
monarchy  as  anyother  in  the  world.  But  it  deserves 
here  to  be  remarked,  that  the  Danish  sovereigns  have 
generally  exercised  their  extensive  power,  with  great 
moderation.  Nevertheless,  this  excessive  power  of  the 
crown,  produced,  at  length,  in  the  year  1849,  the  liberty 
of  the  people,  gave  rise  to  a  spirit  of  union,  and  opened 
their  eyes  to  the  natural  rights  of  mankind. 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  309 

The  sovereignty  thus  surrendered  to  the  king  a  new 

and  solemn  contract  between  the  king  and  the  people, 

called  Lmo  for  the  King,  and  composed  by  the  talented 

secretary,  Peter  Schumacher,  under  the  following  king 

Nov.  u,  ennobled  by  the  name  of  Griffenfeldt,  was  sub- 

A.  D.,  scribed   to   by  Frederick    III.,  and  declared  an 

1665.    inviolable  law  for  both  kingdoms,  the  principal 

articles  of  which  law  were  : 

1.  The  king  of  Denmark  and  Norway  shall  indis- 
pensably profess  the  articles  of  the  Lutheran  creed, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg 
(Confessio  Augustana). 

2.  The  king  must  neither  divide  the  kingdoms  nor 
separate  any  province  from  them,  but  shall  preserve 
their  integrity. 

3.  The  king  shall  reside  in  Copenhagen,  Denmark. 

4.  The  king  is  of  age  at  thirteen  years  old,  to  contro! 
all  affairs. 

5.  The  throne  is  hereditary,  both  in  the  male  and 
female  line,  but  it  being  never  vacant  in  the  eye  of  the 
law,  the  queen-dowager  shall,  if  the  king  before  his 
death  should  not  have  regulated  the  guardianship,  from 
the  very  moment  of  his  death,  in  conjunction  with  seven 
counselors  of  state,  assume  the  reins  of  government  as 
long  as  the  young  king  is  in  his  minority,  and  take  care 
of  his  education. 

6.  The  most  unlimited  power  of  the  government; 
both    in   ecclesiastical   and    secular   matters,   shall   be 


310  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

lodged  in  the  person  of  the  king,  who  is  above  the 
reach  of  all  courts  of  law,  and  not  personally  responsi- 
ble to  any  judicature  but  the  bar  of  Grod  for  his  acts 
and  conduct  in  the  administration  of  government. 

It  need  not  be  explained  how  greatly  this  investment 
of  the  king  with  absolute  sovereignty  curbed  the  no- 
bility, whose  shameful  ignorance,  meanness  and  rebel- 
lious spirit  had  rendered  them  useless  and  contemptible 
both  to  the  king  and  the  nation. 

The  praiseworthy  men,  above  mentioned,  who  had 
mainly  raised  the  king  to  an  absolute  sovereignty,  obtain- 
ed the  most  palpable  evidences  of  his  gratitude  :  Svane 
being  given  the  title  of  archbishop  and  extensive  real 
estates ;  and  Nanson,  Hannibal  Sehestedt,  and  Willad- 
son  likewise  presented  with  donations  and  high  offices, 
in  reward  of  their  important  services.  New  measures 
for  improving  the  administration  of  the  state  affairs 
were  now  taken.  The  whole  frame  of  government  was 
altered  altogether,  many  affairs,  which  before  had  be- 
longed to  the  senate,  being  divided  amongst  various 
colleges  (collegia),  in  which,  by  authority  of  the  king's 
writ,  the  burgher  class  as  well  as  the  nobility  could  be 
invested  with  offices.  Said  colleges  were :  the  college 
of  state,  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  foreign 
affairs  and  with  the  care  of  maintaining  the  new  con- 
stitution and  the  interests  of  the  royal  house  ;  the  sacred 
college,  invested  with  power  to  confer  the  ecclesiastical 
offices  on  qualified  persons;   the  college  of  justice,  to 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  311 

which  pertained  the  judicial  power  and  the  regulation 
of  the  police;  the  college  of  treasury ',  to  administer 
the  finances  and  the  levying  of  taxes ;  the  college  of 
war,  to  which  the  army  was  subject ;  and  the  admiralty 
college,  having  the  naval  affairs  under  its  direction. 
But  whatsoever  the  colleges  had  decided  *upon,  was,  for 
getting  legal  strength  and  force,  first  to  be  laid  before 
the  king  himself,  and  have  his  signature  affixed  to  it. 
The  legislative  power  belonged  to  the  king  alone,  that 
is,  the  power  of  making  laws,  of  abrogating  them,  or  of 
changing  them. 

Besides  these  colleges,  the  supreme  court  was  in- 
stituted, which  became  the  highest  tribunal,  its  presi- 
dent being  the  king  himself.  Frederick  III.  now  em- 
ployed all  his  efforts  for  introducing  a  more  economical 
system,  and  remedying  the  prevailing  scarcity  of  money, 
the  proud  nobility,  hitherto  exempt  from  taxes,  being  de- 
clared tributary  as  well  as  the  peasantry,  which  consid- 
erably contributed  to  settle  the  confused  financial  affairs. 
There  remains  to  be  mentioned,  that  the  code  of  posi- 
tive law  needed  a  transformation  according  to  the  ma- 
terial alteration  the  government  had  undergone,  for  the 
performance  of  which  the  king  appointed  a  committee, 
which  reviewed  the  earlier  laws  and  elaborated  a  new 
code  or  collection  of  laws  ;  which  important  work  was 
finished  in  the  space  of  eight  years  by  Rasmus  Winding, 
professor  of  law,  and  Peter  Lasson,  justiciary  of  the 
supreme  court,  the  code  itself,  however,  first  being  pub- 
lished during  the  reign  of  Christian  V, 


312  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

"We  must  now  take  a  brief  retrospect  of  the  affairs 
of  the  treacherous  Corfitz  Ulfeldt,  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary men  that  ever  appeared  on  the  stage  of  hu- 
man life.  After  the  peace  was  concluded  in  the  year 
1660,  Ulfeldt  had  made  himself  suspected  even  in  Swe- 
den of  being  8  clandestine  adherent  of  Denmark.  His 
property,  therefore,  being  confiscated  in  Sweden,  he  fled 
with  wife  and  children  to  Copenhagen,  just  at  the  time 
the  sovereignty  was  to  be  surrendered  to  the  king. 
Being  here  at  liberty  for  a  short  time,  he  and  his 
wife,  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  sworn  enemy, 
Hannibal  Sehestedt,  were  suddenly  imprisoned  in  the 
castle  of  Rosenborg,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1660,  from 
whence  they  soon  after  were  brought  to  the  castle  ot 
Hammershus,  on  the  island  of  Bornholm,  and  locked  up 
in  a  dark,  subterranean  prison,  where  Henry  Fuchs, 
the  lieutenant  of  the  castle,  for  a  time  of  fifteen  months, 
treated  them  with  such .  inhumanity  and  severity  that 
Ulfeldt  had  to  make  a  very  submissive  request  to  the 
king  himself  for  a  mitigation  of  their  severe  treatment. 
Count  Frederick  Ranzau  was  now  sent  to  Bornholm  to 
inquire  into  the  matter.  Ulfeldt  and  his  wife  were  set 
at  liberty  on  condition  that  he  would  solemnly  promise 
never  to  undertake  anything  detrimental  to  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  king,  and  never,  without  permission,  to 
leave  the  country.  They  arrived  now  again  in  Copen- 
hagen, whence  they,  on  the  27th  of  December,  1661, 
went  to  the  island  of  Fyen,  to  their  beautiful  manor 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  313 

Ellensborg.  Some  time  after,  Ulfeldt,  upon  request, 
obtained  permission  ro  go  to  Spaa,  a  celebrated  watering- 
place  in  Belgium,  but  instead  of  it,  he  went  with  his 
wife  and  four  sons  to  Amsterdam,  where  his  lady,  the 
magnanimous  and  faithful  Christina  Eleonora,  left  him 
for  England,  in  order  to  claim  a  large  amount  of 
money  with  which  Ulfeldt  had  supplied  Charles  II.  On 
taking  leave  of  her,  7th  July,  1662,  his  parting  words 
were  as  follows :  "  You  have  been  united  with  me  in 
love,  you  have  suffered  with  me  in  patience,  you  have 
shared  my  hardships  with  manly  perseverance,  you  have 
assisted  me  with  kind  advices  in  difficult  cases,  you 
have  tried  to  lead  my  heart  unto  Him  by  whom  kings 
reign  and  princes  decree  justice ;  you  have  loved  me 
even  in  the  utmost  miseries.  I  am  now  parting  with 
you,  but  whatsoever  might  happen,  do  not  forget  to 
adhere  to  Him  who  is  the  ruler  of  adversities  and  the 
strengthener  of  love."  They  never  more  met  each  other 
on  this  side  the  grave. 

After  she  left,  Ulfeldt,  whose  heart  was  full  of  hatred 
against  the  Danish  king,  engaged  himself  in  treacherous 
negotiations  with  Holland,  France,  and  Brandenburg, 
aiming  at  overthrowing  the  new  constitution  of  Den- 
mark. But  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  Frederick 
Wilhelm,  a  personal  and  intimate  friend  of  Frederick 
III.,  informed,  without  delay,  the  Danish  court  of 
Ulfeldt's  high  treason,  who  instantly  was  sentenced  to 
suffer  death ;  but  it  being  impossible  to  get  hold  of  him 


314 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


he  was  decapitated  in  effigy,  his  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion being  written  on  the  scaffold,  his  house  in  Copen- 
hagen pulled  down,  and  a  monument  of  infamy  erected 
on  the  void  place. 

No  sooner  was  Ulfeldt  informed  of  the  sentence  of 
death  pronounced  against  him  in  Denmark,  than  he  left 
Amsterdam  and  fled,  crossing  the  Rhine  to  Brisac, 
where  he  died,  aged  sixty  years,  his  conscience  a.  d., 
being  burdened  with  the  memory  of  crimes  of  1664- 
the  deepest  dye.  His  corpse  was  brought  to  a  cloister 
near  Neuburg,  in  Bavaria,  whence  his  sons  brought  it, 
interring  it  secretly  under  a  tree.  He  was  a  man  of  the 
greatest  talents,  a  great  linguist,  an  accomplished  noble- 
man, and  a  sagacious  diplomate ;  but  he  was  headstrong 
in  his  passions,  imprudent,  treacherous,  and  capricious, 
and  his  romantic  spirit  often  led  him  into  the  most 
extravagant  excesses.  Ulfeldt's  wife,  the  noble-minded 
Eleonora  Christina,  a  splendid  example  of  conjugal 
love,  was  by  the  English  government  delivered  up  to 
Denmark,  and  sent  on  board  of  a  ship  to  Copenhagen, 
where  the  queen,  Sophia  Amalia,  ordered  her  maid  of 
honor  to  strip  Eleonora  of  her  clothes,  after  which  she 
was  imprisoned  for  twenty-three  years  in  Bluetoiver, 
and  all  the  time  treated  with  every  circumstance  of 
severity.  This  action  is  the  greatest  stain  upon  the 
memory  of  the  queen,  who  ought  to  have  respected  the 
unhappy  lady  for  that  which  was  her  only  offence — a 
noble  faithfulness  in  sharing  the  fate  of  her  husband. 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  315 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  the  queen,  the  suc- 
ceeding king  released  Eleonora  from  imprisonment, 
in  1685,  presenting  her  with  the  palace  of  Maribo, 
on  the  island  of  Laaland,  and  with  an  annual  allowance 
of  fifteen  hundred  rixdollars.  Here  she  lived  for  thir- 
teen years  in  literary  occupations  and  pious  contempla- 
tions, until  she  died  on  the  16th  of  May,  1698,  aged 
seventy-seven  years.  Her  biography,  composed  by 
herself,  she  finishes  with  the  following  words :  "  Per- 
secutions followed  my  husband  of  blessed  memory;  I 
followed  him,  and  afflictions,  therefore,  followed  me : 
man  la  tristesse  donne  occasion  a  la  patience.  Death 
will  be  acceptable  to  me  ;  nevertheless  I  do  not  wish 
for  it,  but  agree  with  the  Latin  proverb : 

Rebus  in  adversis  facile  est  contemnere  mortem: 
Fortius  ille  facit  qui  miser  esse  potest." 

She  is  buried  in  Maribo  cemetery,  the  words  sho 
herself  had  wished  being  engraved  on  the  tombstone  : 
"  Unless  Thy  law  had  Been  my  delight,  I  should  have 
perished  in  mine  affliction.     Ps.  cxix.  93." 

Although  the  absolute  power,  as  above  mentioned, 
was  generally  exercised  by  Frederick  III.  and  his  suc- 
cessors with  great  moderation,  he  seems,  nevertheless, 
especially  immediately  after  having  obtained  this 
power,  to  have  held  the  highest  notions  of  his  sove- 
reignty, and  to  have  exerted  his  authority  with  rigor. 
A  rich  and  esteemed  nobleman,  Kay  Lykke,  had  in  a 


316  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

private  letter  mentioned  the  queen  in  offensive  terms. 
Though  humbly  imploring  mercy  and  forgiveness  for  his 
temerity  and  inconsiderateness,  he  was  sentenced  to 
suffer  death;  hut  having  seasonably  escaped  by  flight 
the  capital  punishment,  he  was  executed  in  effigy, 
his  large  estates  being  confiscated  in  behalf  of  the 
crown.  Gkrnde  Rosenkranz,  an  accomplished  and 
honest  nobleman  and  senator,  having  often  deserved 
well  of  his  country,  was  without  mercy  banished,  only 
for  being  at  variance  with  the  king's  favorite,  Henry 
Gabel;  and  for  the  unexampled  severity  shown  against 
the  innocent  countess,  Eleonora  Christina.  Ulfeldt,  the 
king  is  highly  to  be  blamed. 

For  the  rest,  Frederick  III  took  energetic  care  for 
the  welfare  of  his  kingdoms,  commencing  rapidly, 
during  his  reign,  to  emerge  from  the  weakness  and 
enervation  into  which  they  had  been  plunged  by  the 
Swedish  invasion  and  subsequent  wars.  He  reformed 
the  laws,  and  encouraged  commerce  by  establishing 
trade  with  Guinea,  on  the  western  coasf  of  Africa,  and 
with  the  West  Indies.  The  king  himself,  being  a  man 
of  letters,  patronized  science  and  the  arts,  and  estab- 
lished the  royal  library,  one  of  the  greatest  in  Europe, 
now  containing  four  hundred  thousand  volumes,  and 
the  university  library  was  considerably  enlarged.  The 
fleet,  almost  entirely  disabled  in  the  last  war,  was 
excellently  fitted  up  by  a  Norwegian,  Cort  Adler,  who 
in  Venetian  service  against  the  Turks,  had  immortalized 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  S17 

himself  by  the  most  undaunted  courage  in  many  naval 
engagements.  But  a  most  heavy  burden  on  the 
country  was  the  standing  army,  which  was  now  aug- 
mented to  twenty-four  thousand  men,  kept  in  constant 
pay  ;  and  the  king,  who,  with  all  his  superiority  of 
genius  and  extensive  knowledge,  firmly  believed  in  the 
possibility  of  the  transmutation  of  metals  into  gold, 
wasted  not  a  little  of  the  national  revenue  in  vain  on 
costly  alchemical  experiments,  conducted  by  Burrhi, 
an  Italian  professor  of  that  imaginary  science,  with 
which  so  many  of  even  the  superior  minds  were  in  that 
age  infatuated. 

Frederick  III.  inherited  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst 
and  bought  Sonderborg,  Nordborg,  and  the  island  of  Aro, 
in  the  Baltic.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  hostilities 
were  about  to  break  out  with  Charles  II.  of  England,  as 
an  English  admiral  had  attacked  a  Dutch  commercial 
fleet,  which  had  fled  for  refuge  to  a  harbor  in  Norway ; 
a.  d.,  the  conclusion,   however,  of  a  peace  at  Breda, 

1667.  in  Holland,  dissipating  the  alarm.  But  soon  a 
serious  misunderstanding  arose  between  Frederick  and 
Christian  Albrecht,  duke  of  Grottorp.  The  new  relation 
into  which  the  dukes  of  Grottorp,  because  of  the  sove- 
reignty surrendered  to  the  king,  had  come  to  Denmark, 
occasioned  frequent  collisions ;  and  Christian  Albrecht 
having  made  an  alliance  with  Charles  XI.  of  Sweden, 
was    more   prone  to   strife  than  to  submission.     The 


318  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

dispute,  however,  was  settled  by  the  Recess  of  A.  £>., 
Gliickstadt,  the  friendship  being  confirmed  by  a    1667- 
marriage  between  the  duke    and   the  daughter  of  the 
king,  Fredericka  Amalia. 

Frederick  III.  died  after  a  remarkable  reign  a.  d., 
of  twenty-two  years.  Upon  the  whole,  having  167°- 
distinguished  himself  by  firm  principles,  manliness, 
prudence,  and  judiciousness,  he  nevertheless  often 
showed,  as  above  mentioned,  a  blamable  severity, 
mainly,  perhaps,  to  be  ascribed  to  the  undue  influence 
his  queen,  the  haughty  Sophie  Amalia,  exercised  upon 
him.  He  is  also  to  be  blamed  for  having  surrounded 
himself  too  much  with  German  favorites,  and  neglected 
the  mother  tongue  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  crown 
prince  for  a  long  while  did  not  understand  Danish. 
Neither  was  it  slightly  to  his  discredit  that  he  nearly  all 
the  time  lived  in  prohibited  sexual  commerce  with 
different  concubines. 

Christian  V.  succeeded  to  the  Danish  crown  a.  d, 
on  the  death  of  his  father.  He  commenced  his  167°- 
reign  by  adopting  a  policy  entirely  contrary  to  that 
system  of  equality,  which  had  begun  to  take  place 
during  the  reign  of  Frederick  III.,  the  new  king  being 
unfavorable,  as  it  will  appear,  to  the  people's  liberties, 
but  in  favor  of  the  higher  orders  of  the  state,  which  now 
again  would  have  everything  at  their  disposal.  The 
nobility,  having  been  made  tributary  from  compulsion, 
during  the  reign  of  Frederick  III.,  was  now,  by  Chris* 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  319 

tian  V.,  exempted  from  paying  taxes,  and  not  alone 
restored  to  their  ancient  rights  and  privileges,  but 
several  new  prerogatives  were  conferred  upon  counts 
and  barons,  the  lower  orders  of  the  state  being  consid- 
ered only  as  a  part  of  the  property  belonging  to  the  real 
estates.     Amongst  these  prerogatives  were  : 

Right  of  patronage  (jus  vocandi),  consisting  in 
freedom  to  confer  a  vacant  pastorate  on  their  estates 
upon  any  candidate  for  orders  the  nobleman  might 
please  to  select — a  right  very  often  misapplied  in  the 
most  shameful  and  conscienceless  manner,  the  noble- 
man frequently  offering  a  pastorate  to  a  young  candidate 
upon  condition  that  he  should  marry  a  woman  de- 
bauched by  the  lewd  nobleman  himself ;  right  of  juris- 
diction, that  is,  an  exclusive  privilege  of  appointing  any 
judge  on  their  estates  they  might  wish — a  right,  likewise, 
often  misused ;  exemption  from  paying  tithes  of  their 
manors  to  the  clergy  ;  and  power  of  life  and  death  over 
their  peasants,  that  is,  it  was  left  to  the  disposition  of 
the  nobleman  to  order  a  peasant  to  be  scourged  and 
beheaded. 

All  these  shameful  privileges  granted  to  these  dregs 
of  society  were,  in  fact,  the  very  cause  of  the  subsequent 
freedom  of  the  Danish  nation,  which  at  length,  roused 
out  of  sleep,  shook  off  the  unjust  yoke  to  which  they, 
for  centuries,  had  been  subjected. 

Christian  V.  established  also  a  distinction  of  ranks 
and  honor,  which  he  considered  an  essential  benefit  ta 


320  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  state,  as  furnishing  a  reward  for  public  services  and 
captivating  to  the  ambition  of  individuals,  who  thereby 
might  be  prompted  to  distinguish  themselves  in  service 
of  their  country ;  but  although  undeniably  thereby  was 
given  an  incitement  to*  many  to  exert  themselves  lauda- 
bly, it  nevertheless  imposed  a  great  burden  on  the  com. 
munity,  a  new  order  thereby  being  established,  invested 
with  new  privileges  and  immunities,  not  to  mention  the 
impure  emulation  and  vanity  it  produced.  He  also 
instituted  two  new  orders  of  knighthood :  the  orders  of 
Dannebrog  and  of  the  Elephant,  with  the  latter  of  which 
only  kings,  princes,  dukes  and  noblemen  were  decorated. 
Upon  the  whole,  the  gay  humor  of  the  French,  and  that 
spirit  of  levity  and  luxury  which  was  prevailing  at  the 
court  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  never  more  conspicuous  in 
Denmark  than  during  the  reign  of  Christian  V.,  who 
himself  loved  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  and  the  lust  of  the 
eyes  and  the  pride  of  life,  but  cared  not  very  much  for 
matters  relative  to  salvation. 

The  good  terms  on  which  Denmark,  by  the  Recess 
of  Gliickstadt,  had  come  to  Christian  Albrecht,  duke 
of  Grottorp,  commenced  now  again  to  be  subverted  by 
disputes  concerning  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst,  which 
ihe  last  count,  Anthon  Gunther,  by  his  will  before  his 
death,  had  divided  between  the  king  of  Denmark  and 
the  duke  of  Grottorp ;  but  Joachim  Ernst,  duke  of 
Ploen,  in  Holstein,  believing  himself  more  entitled,  laid 
claims  to  the  said  earldoms,  and  appealed  to  the  empe- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  321 

ror's  bench.  For  averting  the  danger,  which  wa3 
threatening,  the  wise  diplomate,  GrifTenfeldt,  whom 
Louis  XIY.  called  the  world's  greatest  statesman,  nego- 
tiated with  the  duke  of  Ploen  and  prevailed  upon  him 
to  resign  his  claims,  by  which  means  Christian  Y. 
decidedly  became  the  master  of  both  earldoms ;  which 
exasperated  Christian  Albrecht  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
prepare  himself  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  against  Den- 
mark. But  Christian  V.,  by  virtue  of  his  au-  a.d., 
thority  as  sovereign  king,  cited  him  to  meet  in  1675- 
Rendsburg,  where  he  was  compelled  to  make  an  agree- 
ment, according  to  which  he  had  to  give  up  his  troops 
and  fortresses  to  the  king,  as  also  to  pass  his  word  for 
refraining  from  all  hostilities. 

At  the  same  time  the  arbitrary  designs  of  Louis  XIV. 
had  excited  universal  dissatisfaction,  and  alliances  were 
formed  to  resist  his  designs  and  successes,  which 
alarmed  all  Europe.  A  triple  alliance  was  formed  be- 
tween England,  Holland  and  Sweden,  to  compel  Louis  to 
make  peace  with  Spain,  and  the  union  of  these  powers 
being  too  formidable  to  be  opposed,  a  treaty  was  signed. 
But  other  projects  soon  occupied  the  monarch  of  France, 
whose  designs  against  the  dominions  of  Spain  had  been 
checked  by  means  of  the  triple  alliance.  He  meditated 
now  the  conquest  of  Holland,  and  took  every  measure 
necessary  for  so  great  an  enterprise.  England  and 
Sweden  entered  into  his  views,  while  the  German  em- 
peror,  Leopold  I.,   and  the   Elector  of   Brandenburg, 


322  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Frederick  Wilhelm,  took  up  arms  to  protect  Holland 
and  rescue  it  from  destruction.  Griffenfeldt  advised 
the  Danish  king,  Christian  V.,  to  maintain  a  wise  neu- 
trality, and  keep  up  good  terms  with  Sweden,  which 
had  joined  the  mighty  France. 

But  from  an  ardent  desire  of  reconquering  the  lost 
provinces  in  Sweden,  Christian  V.,  disposed  to  war 
himself,  and  instigated  hy  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
declared  war  against  France  and  Charles  XL  of  a.  d., 
Sweden,  whose  troops  lately  had  been  defeated  1675- 
at  Fehrbellin  in  Brandenburg,  Denmark  thus  again 
being  involved  in  a  horrible  war.  The  Danish  king, 
not  daunted  by  the  power  of  his  enemies,  opened  the 
theatre  of  the  war  in  Germany,  although  Griffenfeldt 
advised  the  king  rather  to  invade  Skane,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  were  yet  in  favor  of  Denmark.  After  many 
toilsome  tasks,  the  strong  fortress,  Wismar,  was  taken, 
especially  by  CxrifTenfeldt's  constancy,  and  Bremen  and 
Werden  were  also  conquered  by  the  Danish  and  Bran- 
denburg troops.  Next  year  the  war  commenced  in 
Skane,  and  Christian  V.  launched  his  fleet,  now  excel- 
lently equipped  and  fitted  out,  into  the  Baltic,  and 
during  the  continuance  of  this  war,  the  Danish  navy 
rode  triumphant,  and  gained  a  decided  superiority  over 
the  Swedish  fleet.  The  great  Danish  admiral  Niels 
Juel,  in  whom  every  endowment  of  nature  necessary  to 
form  a  consummate  warrior  seems  to  have  been  cen- 
tered,  conquered  the  important  island,    Gulland,   and 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  323 

I 

A  D.,   co-operating  with  the  Dutch  admiral,   Tromp,  ho 

1676-  totally  defeated,  in  a  most  desperate  engagement, 
the  whole  Swedish  fleet  at  the  island  of  Oeland,  whereby 
the  king  was  enabled  to  carry  his  army  to  Skane,  where 
in  the  beginning,  he  went  on  with  brilliant  success, 
conquering  the  greatest  part  of  Skane  and  Bleking,  and 
several  strong  fortresses. 

But  fortune  soon  turned  her  back  upon  him.  The 
Swedish  king,  Charles  XL,  endowed  with  military  talent, 
as  were  almost  all  the  kings  of  the  illustrious  house  of 
Vasa,  and  with  an  intrepid  and  enterprising  mind,  arose 
now  like" a  phenix  from  its  ashes,  and  defended  himself 
with  great  ability  and  success.      A  Danish  army  was 

A.  D.,   defeated  by   Charles,  at  Halmstad,  and  in  the 

1676.   next   year  two  battles  were  fought  near   Lund 

and  Landscrona,  where  both  kings  commanded  in  per- 

A.  d.,   son.     The  battles  were  brief,  but,  for  their  dura- 

1677-  tion,  the  most  sanguinary  on  record ;  the  victory, 
towards  the  last,  remained  doubtful,  when  suddenly, 
Charles  XL,  amusing  the  Danish  left  wing  by  a  feigned 
attack,  poured  his  infantry,  in  masses,  on  the  centre ; 
they  encountered  the  bravest  resistance,  but  the  Swedish 
king,  bringing  up  the  cavalry  just  as  the  Danish  lines 
began  to  waver,  broke  through  them  with  a  headlong 
charge,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  Danish  army  was  a 
helpless  mass  of  confusion. 

The  result  of  this  brilliant  victory  was  the  immediate 
conquest  of  the  lost   fortresses,   except  Christianstad, 


324  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

I 

which  for  a  long  time  was  defended  with  great  heroism 
by  the  Danish  general,  Von  Osten;  who,  nevertheless, 
as  his  assistant,  General  Ahrensdorff,  neglected  his  duty 
altogether,  had  to  surrender  that  strong  fortress  to  the 
Swedish  king,  and  every  thing  now  seemed  short  of 
success  for  Denmark.  The  wise  and  intelligent  GrifTen- 
feldt  stood  no  more  by  the  king's  side ;  he  had  been 
removed  partly  by  his  own  crimes,  partly  by  secret 
intrigues  of  his  enemies,  the  king  now  trusting  only  in 
his  inefficient  German  favorites,  Hahn,  Ahlefeldt,  and 
Ahrensdorff,  who  assisted  him  in  his  immoral  dissipa- 
tions and  irregular  course  of  life. 

Notwithstanding  all  looking  very  dark  for  Denmark, 
Christian  V.  attempted  to  retrieve  his  losses  in  a  new 
campaign,  and  sent  his  half  brother,  JJlrik  Frederick 
GUldenlove,  sl  natural  son  of  Frederick  III.,  to  Norway, 
which  had  been  attacked  by  the  Swedes.  Guldenlove 
acquitted  himself  bravely  and  with  success,  soon  after 
conquered  Jemteland,  made  his  way  through  Bahus  and 
Halland,  and  took  by  storm  the  strong  rocky  fortress, 
Carlsteen,  situated  by  the  Cattegat,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  brave  General  Lovenhjelm  entirely  defeated  a 
superior  Swedish  army  at  Uddevalle,  in  the  province  of 
Bahus.  The  rays  of  the  sun  seemed  again  to  smile  on 
Denmark,  her  navy  continuing  to  ride  triumphant 
wheresoever  she  came  in  engagement.  The  celebrated 
Niels  Juel  gained  a  new  victory  over  the  Swedes  at 
Kolberg1  Rhed,  close  by  the  island   of  Femern,  and  a 


HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA.  325 

a.d.,  month  after,  he  immortalized  his  name  by  en« 
1677-  tirely  destroying  the  Swedish  fleet  in  the  bay  of 
Kjoge,  by  Sjelland.  The  latter,  numbering  forty-six 
men-of-war,  attacked  the  Danish  fleet,  moored  in  a 
formidable  position  in  the  bay,  but,  after  a  desperate 
contest,  every  Swedish  ship  that  had  a  share  in  the 
engagement  was  taken  or  destroyed,  the  Swedes  being 
humbled  considerably  by  this  loss. 
a.d.,  In  the  meantime,  conferences  taking  place  at 
1678.  Nimvegen,  and  peace  with  France  being  made, 
Denmark  also  had  to  consent  to  peace  with  Sweden,  in 
a.  d.,  Lund,  and  the  same  year  with  France,  at  Fon- 
1679-  tainebleau.  On  account  of  the  interference  of 
France,  who  would  not  permit  her  ally,  Sweden,  to 
suffer  any  loss,  Denmark  got  nothing  for  all  her  great 
victories  at  sea,  but  had  even  to  promise  to  replace  the 
rebellious  Christian  Albrecht  of  Gottorp  in  his  former 
rights.  The  good  footing  between  the  two  neighboring 
kingdoms  now  seemed  to  be  firmly  established,  Charles 
V.  marrying  Ulrikka  Eleonora,  a  sister  of  the  Danish 
king.  After  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  king  of  Sweden 
tried  to  make  himself  as  absolute  as  the  kings  of  Den- 
mark, but  he  died  prematurely,  leaving  his  crown  to 
his  son,  Charles  XIL,  who  has  deservedly  been  styled 
the  Alexander  of  the  North,  and  who  rivaled  the  fame 
of  the  most  celebrated  conquerors  of  antiquity. 

"We  shall  now  dwell  a  little  on  the  fortunes  and  fate 
of  the  chief  minister  of  Christian  V.,  the  great  Peter 


326  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Griffenfeldt,  whose  Christian  name  was  Schumacher. 
His  father  was  a  wine  merchant  in  Copenhagen.  His 
education  commenced  in  the  house  of  bishop  Brock- 
man,  where  king  Frederick  III.  saw  him,  bestowed  his 
favor  upon  him,  and,  perceiving  him  to  be  a  young 
man  possessed  of  a  very  considerable  share  of  learning, 
and  of  uncommon  acuteness  of  understanding,  per- 
mitted him,  at  royal  expense,  to  visit  foreign  universi- 
ties. Upon  his  return  he  was  ennobled  by  Christian  V., 
decorated  with  the  order  of  the  Elephant,  and  made 
lord  high  chancellor.  Even  the  German  emperor,  Leo- 
pold L,  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  landgrave. 

But  there  are  never  wanting  those  who  are  envious 
and  jealous.  His  success  procured  him  powerful  ene- 
mies, who  tried  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  cast  an  aspersion 
upon  his  honor  in  the  eyes  of  the  king,  who  was  weak 
and  of  a  changeable  mind.  Giildenlove,  half-brother  of 
the  king,  bore  an  inveterate  hatred  against  Griffenfeldt, 
because  the  latter  had  tried  to  counteract  the  detri- 
mental influence  Giildenlove  exercised  on  the  king's 
morality.  Another  dangerous  enemy  was  John  Adolph, 
duke  of  Ploen,  whose  daughter  he  had  refused  to  marry ; 
Aldefeldt,  Hahn,  Knuth,  and  other  German  favorites,  also 
tried  to  undermine  Griffenfeldt,  in  hope  of  profiting  by 
his  declension  from  greatness ;  and  the  king  himself 
appears  not  to  have  seen  through  the  ungenerous  policy 
of  these  crafty  knaves,  who  were  possessed  of  neither 
abilities  nor  virtue.     Griffenfeldt  was  suddenly  impris- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


32  1 


a.d.,  oned,  charged  with  leze  majesty  and  simony : 
1676.  anc|  a}so  with  using  abusive  language  against 
the  king  himself,  the  following  words  being  found  in 
his  diary :  "  To-day  the  king  has  spoken  as  a  child  in 
the  council  of  state  ;"  a  circumstance  which  contributed 
in  no  slight  degree  to  heighten  the  king's  animosity 
against  Grriffenfeldt.  He  was  sentenced  to  suffer 
death,  and  his  property  to  be  confiscated ;  a  sentence, 
however,  which  three  members  of  the  Supreme  Court 
deemed  so  iniquitous  that  they  refused  to  subscribe  to 
it.  But  only  the  minority  of  the  court  being  in  his  favor, 
the  king  said,  "  Justice  will  take  its  course,"  and  signed 
the  warrant  for  the  execution  of  the  great  statesman. 
A  high  scaffold  was  erected,  but  just  as  the  executioner 
was  about  to  strike  the  mortal  blow,  voices  were  heard 
on  the  staircase,  crying  "  Pardon,  in  the  name  of  his 
Majesty !"  Griffenfeldt,  on  hearing  that  the  sentence 
of  death  was  commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life,  cried, 
"  This  mercy  is  more  cruel  than  the  capital  punish- 
ment." Then  he  was  brought  to  the  citadel  of  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  was  imprisoned  for  four  years,  whence 
he  was  sent  to  a  prison  on  the  island  of  Munkholm,  in 
Drontheim  Fjord,  Norway,  where  he  was  kept  for 
eighteen  years,  (1679-1698),  and  treated  there  all  the 
time  with  the  utmost  degree  of  barbarous  cruelty.  He 
was  set  at  liberty  only  a  few  months  before  his  death, 
and  died  in  Jutland,  on  Steensballe,  a  beautiful  manor 
belonging  to  his  son-in-law,  baron  Krag,  with  whom  he 


328  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

passed  the  last  days  of  his  wretched  and  toilsome  life. 
From  his  early  youth  he  distinguished  himself  by  remark- 
able talents  ;  he  spoke  almost  all  modern  languages,  and 
even  in  his  fourteenth  year  he  wrote  Latin  with  Cicero- 
nian perfection ;  as  a  statesman  he  has  never  been 
surpassed.  Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  looked  upon  him 
as  a  genius  of  the  highest  order,  and  he  undeniably 
wielded  the  diplomatic  sceptre  with  a  discrimination 
which  no  doubt  saved  Denmark  and  Norway  from  being 
involved  in  one  common  ruin.  After  his  fall,  the  want 
of  his  rare  talents  was  often  deeply  felt,  the  king  him- 
self saying,  "  Griffenfeldt  alone  better  understood  the 
welfare  of  my  states  than  all  my  other  counsellors  to- 
gether." His  administration  was  vigorous  and  useful, 
but  his  haughtiness  and  imprudence  gave  great  offence 
to  the  Danish  nobles,  and  was  mainly  the  cause  of  the 
conspiracy  being  formed  against  him,  of  which  Gulden- 
love,  above  mentioned,  was  the  principal  instigator  ;  and 
it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  he  wanted  that  prudence 
which  should  have  taught  him  rather  to  yield  to  the 
necessity  of  the  times,  than,  by  obstinately  maintaining 
his  power,  to  risk  an  entire  deprivation  of  it. 

According  to  the  pacification  of  Lund,  Chris-  a.  d., 
tian  Albrecht  was  as  we  have  seen  to  be  replaced    1679- 
in  his  former  rights,  but  new  disputes  arising,  Christian 
V.  marched   his   army   into   Schleswig,  when,  by  the 
interference  of  other  realms,  the  treaty  of  Altona   a.d., 
was  brought    about ;    agreeably  to   which  the   1689 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  329 

rudely  treated  duke  was  allowed  to  return  to  his  duke- 
dom from  Hamburg,  where  for  several  years  he  had 
lived  a  retired  life.  Upon  his  death  his  son  a.  d., 
Frederick,  married  to  Hedevig-  Sophia,  a  sister  1694- 
to  Sweden's  warlike  king,  Charles  XII.,  succeeded  to 
the  rule  of  the  duchy,  and  relying  upon  his  affinity  to 
the  king  of  Sweden,  he  picked  a  new  quarrel  with  Den- 
mark, which  shortly  after  the  death  of  Christian  V. 
created  a  most  dangerous  war. 

Like  many  of  his  predecessors,  Christian  Y.  had 
earnest  controversies  with  Hamburg,  which  were  com- 
posed, however,  by  an  agreement  of  Pinneberg,  Ham- 
burg obliging  herself  to  pay  Denmark  two  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  rixdollars.  The  mighty  Hanse  Con- 
federacy now  gradually  declined,  and  this  league,  once 
so  extensive  as  to  preserve  a  monopoly  of  the  Baltic 
trade,  was  now  forced  to  share  it  with  the  merchants  of 
England,  Holland,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  and  included, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  only  the  cities  of  Hamburg, 
Liibeck,  and  Bremen. 

In  many  branches  of  the  internal  administration  of 
Denmark  and  Norway,  important  improvements  were 
made  during  the  reign  of  Christian  Y.  The  new  code, 
published  in  1683,  by  name  of  Christian  Vh  Danish 
Law,  has  been  before  mentioned.  The  celebrated 
mathematician,  Ole  Romer,  acquired  great  fame 
throughout  Europe,  by  his  ingenious  astronomical  in* 
struments,    and   by   discovering  the   swiftness   of    the 


330  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

emanation  of  light  from  the  sun,  from  whence  the  most 
important  conclusions  have  been  deduced.  He  also 
composed  a  new  terrier,  which  became  the  basis  of  a 
more  exact  taxation  of  the  lands  of  private  persons. 
The  navy  and  admiralty  were  excellently  administered 
by  Span  and  Janus  Juel,  a  brother  of  the  great  admiral, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  Swedish  war  the  Danish  fleet 
numbered  forty-eight  men-of-war,  duly  equipped  and 
fitted  out. 

The  able  statesman,  Sigfried  Pless,  regulated  skill- 
fully the  financial  affairs,  which  had  fallen  into  great 
disorder  during  the  war  with  Sweden.  Nevertheless,  at 
the  death  of  Christian  V.,  Denmark  had  run  into  a  debt 
of  one  million  of  rixdollars,  mainly  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  king's  military  enterprises,  which  had  been  attended 
with  a  prodigious  waste  of  treasure.  To  improve  trade 
and  manufactures,  a  College  of  Commerce  was  estab- 
lished, the  East  India  Company  was  renewed,  and 
commercial  houses  erected  for  Iceland,  the  Faroe  isles, 
and  Greenland.  The  trade  with  the  West  Indies  was 
enlarged  by  acquiring  the  two  islands  of  St.  Thomas 
and  St.  John  ;  and,  on  the  whole,  the  Danish  commerce 
was  vigorously  promoted  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign 
of  Christian  V.,  while  most  other  maritime  powers  of 
Europe  were  entangled  in  wars.  Fairs,  or  great  mar- 
kets, were  held  at  stated  times,  to  which  traders  resorted 
from  different  quarters,  and  interchanged  their  several 
products  or  manufactures.     This  trade,  however,  being 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  331 

A.  D,  exposed  to  much  trouble  from  the  privateers  of 
1691  •  the  belligerent  nations,  Denmark  made  an  alii 
ance  with  Sweden,  for  the  mutual  protection  of  their 
commerce.  For  defence  the  old  fortresses  were  refitted 
and  some  new  ones  founded ;  amongst  others,  the  for- 
tress of  Christianso,  near  the  island  of  Bornholm.  The 
police  and  the  fire-companies  were  better  regulated,  and 
Copenhagen  was  beautified  by  laying  out  new  streets 
and  by  the  erection  of  the  splendid  palaces,  Charlotten- 
borg  and  Amalienborg.  Uniform  measures  and  weights 
were  fully  introduced,  the  common  roads  measured, 
and  the  means  of  conveyance  bettered. 

But  the  peasantry  and  agriculture,  during  the  reign 
of  Christian  V.,  were  in  a  most  lamentable  condition, 
the  country  not  producing  sufficient  to  satisfy  her  own 
necessities.  The  peasants  were  compelled  to  serve 
without  wages,  whenever  the  noblemen  thought  it  proper 
to  send  for  them,  their  own  work  often  thereby  being 
neglected.  The  overweening  self-confidence  and  pride 
of  the  nobles  disdained 'any  co-operation  with  the  lower 
orders  ;  the  nobles  filled  the  highest  offices  in  the  state ; 
they  appointed  judges  in  their  domains  for  the  cogni- 
zance of  certain  civil  causes,  and  exercised  an  unlimited 
criminal  jurisdiction  over  their  peasants,  on  whom  they 
occasionally  inflicted  even  capital  punishment.  The 
nobility  were  also  exempt  from  taxation,  except  in  case 
of  war,  nor  could  they  be  imprisoned,  though  their 
estates  might  be  sequestered  for  debt.      The  peasants 


332  HISTORY     OF     SCAP*DINA\IA. 

were  in  perfect  bondage  to  their  masters,  who,  when 
displeased  with  them,  could,  without  any  judicial 
inquiry,  fetter  them,  and  send  them  for  one  year  to  the 
house  of  correction.  The  whole  was  a  system  of  oppres- 
sion, and  exerted  a  fatal  influence  on  the  character  of 
society  in  general,  the  great  mass  of  the  population, 
under  the  thraldom  of  this  system,  sinking  into  the 
deepest  ignorance. 

Nevertheless,  while  inhumanity  and  oppression  held 
undisputed  sway,  the  sentiment  of  independence,  and 
the  feelings  of  personal  consequence  and  dignity,  were 
fermenting  in  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  at 
length  let  in  those  first  rays  of  light,  which  dispelled 
barbarism,  and  introduced  that  liberty  of  which  the 
Danish  nation,  since  the  year  1849,  can  rightfully  boast. 

Science  and  the  arts  were  not  patronized  by  Christian 
V.,  who  himself  had  no  relish  at  all  for  them,  whereas 
some  private  men  protected  literature  and  took  care  of 
its  cultivators.  Ole  Borch  erected  a  spacious  building, 
called  the  Collegium  Mediceum,  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  sixteen  indigent  students,  and  George  Ehlers,  a  like 
edifice,  called  Collegium  Ehlertii,  both  of  them  be- 
queathing rich  legacies  to  the  students.  But  the  liberty 
of  the  press  was  under  the  severest  control,  censors  being 
appointed  and  empowered  to  examine  all  manuscripts 
before  they  were  printed,  and  to  see  that  they  did  not 
contain  anything  offensive  to  the  king's  absolute  power, 
every  expression  containing  the  least  opposition  to  the 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  333 

sovereignty  being  looked  suspiciously  upon,  and  at  times 
severely  punished.  A  learned  nobleman,  Oluf  Rosen- 
kranz,  published  a  small  book  entitled,  "  Defence  of 
the  Danish  Nobility,"  which  historical  work  caused  a 
law  suit  against  him,  and  by  the  supreme  court  he  was 
sentenced  to  be  deposed  from  his  office,  to  recant,  and 
his  fief  to  be  confiscated,  all  of  which  was  executed 
except  the  forfeiture  of  the  fief,  which  was  commuted 
for  a  penalty  of  twenty  thousand  rixdollars.  A  like 
instance  did  appear  in  a  literary  controversy  between 
Masius,  court-chaplain  of  Copenhagen,  and  the  great 
philosopher,  Thomasius,  of  Halle,  Germany :  Masius 
having  explained,  that  the  king's  absolute  power  origi- 
nated immediately  from  God,  while  Thomasius  insisted 
that  it  was  originally  yielded  to  the  king  by  the  people. 
This  work  of  Thomasius  was  publicly  burnt  by  the  exe- 
cutioner. 

In  reference  to  religious  matters  a  mean  intolerance 
prevailed.  The  celebrated  edict  of  Nantes,  1598,  had, 
as  we  know,  been  issued  by  Henry  IY.,  of  France, 
giving  the  Huguenots  (Protestants)  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  had  been  confirmed  by  Louis  XIII.,  under  certain 
restrictions  with  regard  to  public  worship.  But  Louis 
XIV.,  by  a  display  of  ferocious  bigotry,  revoked  the 
edict,  and  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  of  the  Hugue- 
nots abandoned  their  country,  some  of  whom  solicited 
the  Danish  king,  Christian  V.,  for  permission  to  settle 
in  Denmark.     The  Huguenots   being  of  the  Reformed 


334:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Church,  were,  however,  by  the  bigoted  interposition  of 
Bishop  Bagger,  and  the  court  chaplain,  Masius,  noi 
granted  their  request,  but  had  to  remove  into  other  lands, 
Denmark  thus  losing  many  subjects  of  wealth,  commer- 
cial intelligence,  and  manufacturing  industry.  Never- 
theless, some  time  after,  the  queen,  Charlotte  Amalia, 
belonging  herself  to  the  Reformed  Church,  interceded 
for  them  with  the  king,  and  procured  them  permis- 
sion to  settle  in  Copenhagen,  and  a  Reformed  a.  d., 
church  was  erected,  the  queen  herself  paying  two  1698- 
clergymen,  a  Frenchman  and  a  German,  a  yearly  salary, 
and  at  her  death  bequeathing  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  to  the  congregation.  But  not  many  availed 
themselves  of  this  permission,  and  those  who  arrived  in 
Copenhagen  were  oppressed  in  different  ways.  Christian 
V.  was  married  to  Charlotte  Amalia,  a  daughter  of 
Landegrave  Wilhelm  IV.,  of  Hesse  Cassel,  an  intelli- 
gent, pious,  and  virtuous  queen,  exercising,  however, 
only  a  little  influence  upon  the  king,  who  lived  in  open 
concubinage  with  a  lascivious  girl,  Sophia  Amalia 
Moth,  whom  he  exalted  to  be  Countess  of  Samso,  and  by 
whom  he  begot  several  spurious  children.  After  a.  d., 
a  reign  of  twenty-nine  years,  Christian  V.  died,  1699- 
leaving  his  kingdom  greatly  indebted,  and  a  court  highly 
corrupted  in  morals.  The  German  language  got  a 
greater  ascendency  over  the  mother  tongue  than  ever 
before  ;  German  was  the  court  language,  and  Germans 
filled  the  highest  offices  in  the  state. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA  335 

After  the  death  of  Christian  V.,  the  sceptre  passed  to 
A.  d.,  the  hands  of  his  son,  Frederick  IV.,  who,  not- 
1699.  withstanding  the  rudeness  and  imperfection  of 
his  education,  very  soon  exhibited  proofs  of  that  genius, 
frugality,  and  assiduity  by  which  he  became  one  of 
Denmark's  most  able  and  excellent  kings.  The  first 
object  of  his  attention  was  how  to  manage  the  rebel- 
lious duke,  Frederick  of  Grottorp,  who,  relying  on  his 
affinity  to  Charles  XII. ,  of  Sweden,  defied  Denmark  in 
every  way,  made  alliance  with  Hanover,  erected  fortifi- 
cations, and  carried  Swedish  troops  into  the  country. 
To  compel  the  duke  to  submit,  Frederick  IV.  entered 
into  a  secret  alliance  against  Sweden  with  Peter  the 
Great,  of  Russia,  and  Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony, 
who  had  succeeded  John  Sobiesky  on  the  throne  of 
Poland,  marched  an  army  to  the  duchy  of  Schleswig, 
and  commenced  to  lay  siege  to  the  fortress  of  Ton- 
ningen,  and  it  was  not  doubted,  that  the  duke  and 
Sweden  both  would  fall  victims  to  so  formidable  an 
alliance.  But  the  progress  of  the  Danes  was  slower 
than  they  expected,  the  duke  being  supported  by 
Swedish  and  Hanoverian  troops,  and,  in  the  midst  of 
his  career,  the  Danish  king  was  arrested  in  his  opera- 
tions by  intelligence  of  the  dangers  which  menaced  his 
own  capital,  which  was  just  now  on  the  point  of  being 
taken.  The  young  king  of  Sweden,  Charles  XII.,  only 
eighteen  years  of  age,  soon  unveiling  his  admirable 
military  talents,  and  undaunted  by  the  power  of   the 


336  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

league,  resolved  to  carry  the  war  into  the  dominions 
of  Denmark,  and  landed  immediately  upon  the  island 
of  Sjelland,  on  which  Copenhagen  is  situated,  while 
his  fleet,  strengthened  hy  a  Dutch  and  English  squadron 
of  ships,  which  William  III.,  king  of  England  and 
stadtholder  of  Holland  had  sent,  bombarded  Copenha- 
gen. Frederick  IV.,  cut  off  from  his  dominions  by  the 
Swedish  cruisers,  and  alarmed  by  the  imminent  danger 
of  his  navy  and  beautiful  capital,  thought  himself 
happy  to  save  his  kingdom  by  indemnifying  the  a.  d., 
Duke  of  Grottorp,  and  purchasing  a  peace  at  170°- 
Travendal,  highly  honorable  to  the  Swedes,  and  left 
his  Russian  and  Polish  allies,  who  had  not  duly  assisted 
him,  to  continue  the  contest  with  Charles  XII.,  the 
young  Alexander  of  the  North,  who  for  a  long  time 
did  not  permit  them  to  enjoy  a  moment  of  ease  or  re- 
laxation. The  terms  of  peace  were  :  Denmark  should 
acknowledge  the  Duke's  sovereignty  in  his  dukedom, 
and  his  right  to  erect  fortresses,  keep  troops,  and  make 
alliances  with  foreign  powers,  and  pay  him  two  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  rixdollars,  to  defray  the  charges  of 
the  war.  But  two  years  after  the  peace  of  Travendal, 
duke  Frederick  of  Grottorp,  who  fought  for  his  a.  d., 
brother-in-law,  Charles  XII.,  fell  in  the  battle  1702- 
of  Clissaw,  in  Poland,  and  the  duchess-dowager  gov- 
erned the  dukedom  in  the  minority  of  her  son,  Charles 
Frederick,  when  events  soon  now  came  to  pass,  un- 
expectedly deciding  the  long  contests  between  the  dukes 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  337 

of  Gottorp  and  the  kings  of  Denmark.  After  having 
humbled  Denmark,  and  already,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
rendered  his  name  the  terror  of  the  North,  and  the  ad- 
miration of  Europe,  Charles  XII.  resolved  to  turn  his 
arms  against  the  Russians,  whom  the  heroic  king  of 
Sweden  totally  defeated  at  J¥arva,  after  a  contrst  of 
three  hours'  duration,  all  the  artillery,  baggage,  and 
ammunition  of  the  Russians  becoming  the  prey  of  the 
Swedes. 

Having  wintered  at  Narva,  Charles  XII.  marched 
against  the  Poles  and  Saxons,  and  formed  the  project 
of  dethroning  king  Augustus,  and  placing  another  upon 
the  throne.  His  designs  were  seconded  by  the  misera- 
ble state  of  Poland,  and  by  the  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Poles  with  their  king,  Augustus,  from  the  undisguised 
preference  which  he  showed  for  his  Saxon  subjects ;  and 
to  add  to  this,  the  primate  of  Poland,  Radzrewislcy, 
secretly  meditated  a  revolution,  and  entered  immediately 
into  the  views  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  who,  without 
difficulty,  made  himself  master  of  Warsaw,  in  July, 
1702.  Augustus,  convinced  that  he  could  only  protect 
his  crown  by  the  sword,  led  his  army  to  meet  the 
Swedes  at  Clissaw,  above  mentioned,  where  he,  how- 
ever, was  forced  to  fly,  after  having  made  in  vain  the 
most  heroic  efforts  to  rally  his  troops. 

A  second  triumph  at  Pultush  gave  such  encourage- 
ment to  the  enemies  of  Augustus,  that  in  the  year  1704 
the  throne  of  Poland  was  declared  vacant,  which  Charles. 


338  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

XII.  now  gave  to  Stanislaus  LeczinsTci,  a  young  noble- 
man of  Posnania ;  and  when  the  Poles  hesitated  a  little 
on  account  of  his  youth,  Charles  XII.  said :  "  If  I  am 
not  mistaken,  he  is  as  old  as  I  am."  Then  the  king  of 
Sweden  turned  his  arms  against  Peter  the  Great  of 
Russia,  who  was  making  some  ineffectual  efforts  to  re- 
vive the  party  of  Augustus,  and  at  the  head  of  forty-five 
thousand  men  he  entered  Lithuania,  and  earned  every- 
thing before  him,  defeating  an  army  of  twenty  thousand 
Russians  strongly  entrenched. 

Intoxicated  by  success,  he  rejected  the  Czar's  offers 
of  peace,  bluntly  declaring  that  he  would  negotiate  with 
the  Czar  in  his  capital  of  Moscow.  When  Peter  the 
Great  was  informed  of  this  haughty  answer,  he  coolly 
replied :  "  My  brother  Charles  affects  to  play  the  part  of 
Alexander,  but  I  hope  he  will  not  find  in  me  a  Darius." 
Peter  prevented  the  advance  of  the  Swedes,  on  the  direct 
line,  by  breaking  up  the  roads  and  wasting  the  country, 
and  Charles  XII.,  after  crossing  the  Dnieper,  and  en- 
during great  privations  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  and 
almost  desolate  country,  and  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
severest  winters  ever  known  in  Europe,  found  it  im- 
practicable to  continue  his  march  to  Moscow. 

Nevertheless,  undaunted  by  these  obstacles,  he  adopted 
the  extraordinary  resolution  of  passing  into  the  Ukraine, 
and  laying  siege  to  Pultowa,  a  fortified  city  on  the 
frontier.  Leaving  some  thousand  men  to  guard  the 
works,  Charles  ordered  his  soldiers  to  march  and  meet 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  339 

A.  D ,     the  Russians,  who  were  advancing  to  raise  the 

1709.  siege.  On  the  8th  of  July,  a  desperate  contest 
took  place,  but  after  a  dreadful  combat  of  two  hours 
the  Swedish  army  was  irretrievably  ruined,  and  Charles 
XII.,  who  thus  in  one  day  had  lost  the  fruits  of  nearly 
nine  years  of  successful  warfare,  had  to  escape  as  a 
helpless  fugitive  with  three  hundred  horsemen  to  Beiv- 
der,  a  Turkish  town  in  Bessarabia,  abandoning  all  his 
treasures  to  his  rival,  Peter  the  Great,  whom  he  now 
had  taught  how  to  conquer  him. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Denmark  thought  it  a 
proper  opportunity  to  regain  the  lost  provinces  of  Skane, 
Halland,  and  Bleking,  and  king  Frederic  IV.,  after  a 
short  interview  with  Augustus  in  Dresden,  entered  into 
a  league  with  Poland,  Saxony,  and  Russia  against  Swe- 
den. The  Danish  monarch  invaded  Skane,  but  his 
troops  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  de- 
feated by  the  Swedish  army,  principally  consisting  of 
young  boys,  commanded  by  the  brave  General  Stem- 
buck.     This  victory  again  quickening  the  Swedes,  was 

A.D.,     won  close  by  Helsingborg,  over  against  Else- 

1710.  nore,  and  transported  Charles  XII.  to  such  a 
degree,  that  when  intelligence  of  it  was  conveyed  to 
him  in  his  exile  he  exclaimed,  "My  brave  Swedes! 
should  God  permit  me  to  join  you  once  more,  we  will 
beat  them  all !"  Then  the  war  was  carried  over  to  Ger- 
many, where  the  Danes  conquered  the  two  counties, 
Bremen  and  Werden,  together  with  other  Swedish  pos- 


340  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

sessions,  while  the  fortresses,  Stettin  and  Stralsund,  in 
Swedish  Pomerania,  were  besieged  in  vain ;  and  next 
year  the  Swedes,  under  General  Steenbuck,  gained  a 
brilliant  victory  over  the  nnited  forces  of  the  A.  D., 
Danes  and  Saxons,  at  Gadebusch,  in  the  duchy  1712. 
of  Mecklenburg.  Not  able,  however,  to  master  the 
troops  of  the  allied  powers,  Steenbuck  had  to  retire  to 
the  fortress  of  T6n?iing,  in  Schleswig,  but  on  the  way 
thither  he  sullied  his  fame  by  burning  the  defenceless 
city  of  Altona,  an  outrage  which  excited  the  indigna- 
tion not  only  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  but  of  all  Eu- 
rope. 

Although  the  government  of  Gottorp  had  engaged 
itself  to  maintain  a  strong  neutrality,  Steenbuck,  never- 
theless, was  received  into  Tonning.  In  retaliation, 
Frederick  IV.  immediately  took  possession  of  the  Got- 
torp part  of  the  duchy  of  Schleswig.  The  burning  of 
Altona,  however,  was  the  last  service  that  the  cruel 
general  could  perform  for  his  exiled  master  ;  unable  to 
prevent  the  junction  of  the  Russians  with  the  Danes 
and  Saxons,  he  retreated  before  superior  numbers,  and 
the  brave  king,  Frederick  IY.,  of  Denmark,  pur-  a.  D., 
sued  his  advantages  so  vigorously,  that  Steen-  1713. 
buck,  at  Tonningen,  was  forced  to  yield  himself  a 
prisoner  of  war  to  the  Danish  king  in  person,  who  car- 
ried him  to  Copenhagen,  where  he  died  in  captivity  in 
the  citadel. 

The  Danish  fleet,  commanded  by  the  illustrious  he- 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  341 

roes,  Gabel,  tiehested,  Raben,  and  Tordenskjold,  rode 
triumphantly  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  this  war. 
Gabel  annihilated  a  Swedish  fleet  in  Femern  Sound, 
and  Sehested  and  Raben  discomfited,  off  the  island  of 
Riigen,  another  Swedish  fleet,  which  had  to  retire  to 
the  harbor  of  Carlscrona  to  refit.  The  commander, 
Ilvitfeldt,  has  left  behind  him  a  never-dying  remem- 
brance in  the  mind  of  the  Danish  nation  by  heroically 
sacrificing  his  life  in  the  desperate  battle  in  the  bay  of 
Kjoge.  Dannebrog,  the  admiral  ship,  on  which  he  was, 
A.  D.,  had  taken  fire.  Hvitf  eldt  could  have  saved  his 
1714.  life,  but  in  fear  of  thereby  setting  the  whole 
Danish  fleet  on  fire,  he  resolved  heroically  to  sustain 
the  whole  fury  of  the  assault,  till  he,  with  three  hun- 
dred men,  was  blown  up.  The  young  Norwegian, 
Peter  Vessel,  so  distinguished  himself  by  heroic  ex- 
ploits, that  he  from  a  low  office  rose  to  the  dignity  of 
an  admiral,  and  was  ennobled  by  the  name  of  Tor- 
denskjold (thundershield).  On  receiving  this  honor,  he 
exclaimed:  " TordenskjoM !  A  beautiful  name,  your 
Majesty ;  and  I  promise  to  thunder  so  in  the  ears  of  the 
Swedes,  that  your  Majesty  shall  not  have  to  say  that 
you  have  given  me  that  name  in  vain." 

The  Swedish  monarch  continued  to  linger  in  Turkey 
until  the  end  of  1714 ;  but  when  he  then  learned  that 
the  Swedish  senate  intended  to  make  his  sister  regent 
in  his  absence,  and  to  make  peace  with  Russia  and 
Denmark,  his  indignation  induced  him  to  return  home. 


342  HISTOKY    OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

He  traversed  Germany  incognito,  and  toward  the  close 
of  the  year  reached  Stralsund,  the  capital  of  Swedish 
Pomerania,  which  was  besieged  by  the  united  armies 
of  the  Prussians,  Danes,  and  Saxons.  After  an  obsti- 
nate defence,  in  which  Charles  XII.  displayed  all  his  ac- 
customed bravery,  Stralsund  was  compelled  to  capitulate 
after  a  siege  of  two  months,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
Danish  and  Eussian  fleets  swept  the  Baltic  and  threat- 
ened Stockholm. 

A  firmer  alliance  was  now  concluded  between  Den- 
mark, Saxony,  and  Kussia,  which  also  soon  after  was 
joined  by  Prussia  and  Hanover,  the  elector  of  which  had 
ascended  the  throne  of  England  under  the  name  of 
George  1.  Stralsund  having  surrendered,  Charles  es- 
caped in  a  small  boat  to  his  native  shores,  and  now 
prepared  himself  to  pass  over  the  ice  and  make  an 
irruption  into  Sjelland,  from  which  he,  however,  was 
prevented  by  an  unexpected  thaw.  All  Europe  be- 
lieved Charles  XII.  undone,  when,  to  the  inexpressible 
astonishment  of  every  one,  it  was  announced  that  he, 
whose  anger  with  Denmark  was  now  wound  up  to  the 
highest  pitch,  had  declared  war  against  Denmark,  and 
invaded  Norway.  But  his  army  was  soon  driven  back, 
greatly  diminished  in  numbers.  Anna  Colbjornsen,  a 
clergyman's  wife,  a  patriotic,  fearless  woman,  led  astray 
by  cunning  pretences  the  Swedish  colonel,  Zowen,  so 
that  he  desisted  from  his  plans  to  destroy  the  silver 
mines  of  Kongsberg. 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  34:3 

•Charles  XII.  now  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Fredericks- 
A  D.,  hald,  a  maratime  town  of  Norway,  near  the 
1716.  Skaggerack,  defended  by  the  strong  fortress  of 
Fredericksteen,  but  the  two  brothers,  John  and  Peter 
Oolbjomsen,  prevailed  on  the  inhabitants  to  fire  the 
city,  to  prevent  the  Swedes  from  having  any  hold  there. 
A  bloody  battle  ensued ;  Charles  galled  the  Danes  and 
Norwegians  with  a  continual  fire ;  the  slaughter  was 
equal  on  both  sides,  till  at  last,  however,  the  Danes 
claimed  the  victory.  Crowds  of  hungry  wolves,  issu- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  severe  winter  from  the  Nor- 
wegian forests,  howeled  over  the  dying  remains  of  the 
Swedish  soldiers.  Charles  XII.  was  driven  to  seek  a 
temporary  refuge  for  his  army  in  the  country. 

In  the  meantime,  the  vigilant  Danish  admiral,  Tor- 
denlcsjold,  with  a  daring  hardly  ever  heard  of,  running 
a  Danish  fleet  into  the  harbor  of  Dynehiel,  and,  after  a 
desperate  contest  of  a  few  hours,  destroying  the  Swedish 
men-of-war  and  store-ships,  Charles  XII.  was  compelled 
for  this  time,  to  leave  Norway.  But  no  way  yet  intimi- 
dated by  his  misfortunes,  and  still  determined  upon 
taking  Denmark,  he  commanded  his  mariners  to  seize 
every  Danish  vessel,  even  if  the  king  of  Denmark  him- 
self might  be  on  board.  Frederick  IV.  now  launched 
into  the  Baltic  a  mighty  fleet,  commanded  by  Torden- 
skjold,  who  acquired  great  fame  for  his  courage  and 
strategic  skill  in  conquering  Marstrand,  and  the  strong 
rocky  fortress,  Carlesteen,  although  meeting  with  the 


3^4  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

most  terrible  fire  from  the  Swedish  batteries.  While 
Charles  XII.  had  been  taken  up  with  his  attempts  at 
conquering  Norway,  Frederick  IV.  and  Peter  the  Great 
of  Russia  prepared  themselves  to  march  an  army  to 
Sweden,  Peter  himself  arriving  in  Copenhagen  with  a 
fleet,  and  disembarking  a  powerful  Russian  army  on 
the  shores  of  Sjelland,  seemingly  in  assistance  of  the 
Danes.  But  soon  learning  that  the  cunning  Czar,  who, 
under  the  mask  of  friendship,  requested  the  keys  to  the 
four  gates  of  Copenhagen,  intended  to  seize  upon  the 
Danish  capital  and  the  fortress  of  Kronborg,  the  neces- 
sary preparations  were  made  to  oppose  this  treacherous 
plan,  Peter  the  Great  being  suddenly  compelled  to  leave 
Sjelland.  Then  secret  negotiations  commenced  between 
Russia  and  Sweden,  conducted  by  the  Swedish  prime 
minister,  Baron  de  Qorte,  a  native  of  Franconia,  a 
man  of  an  artful,  active,  and  comprehensive  genius, 
whose  plan  was  to  unite  the  king  of  Sweden  and  the 
Russian  Czar  in  strict  amity,  who  then  not  only  would 
dictate  laws  to  Europe,  but  wrest  the  kingdom  of  Nor- 
way from  Denmark,  and  force  the  Danish  king  to 
renounce  the  duchies  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein  to  the 
Duke  of  Gottorp.  The  Czar  readily  joined  in  the 
scheme,  and  a  dark  storm  was  gathering  for  Denmark, 
when  the  sudden  death  of  Charles  XII.  rendered  abor- 
tive a  plan  that  might  have  thrown  Denmark,  and 
perhaps  all  Europe,  into  a  state  of  political  combustion. 
Charles  XII.,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  views  against 


HIST  RY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  345 

Norway,  a  second  time  invested  the  castle  of  Fredericks- 
hald,  in  the  very  depth  of  winter,  but  while  engaged  in 
viewing  the  works,  and  in  conversation  with  his  engi- 
neer, in  the  midst  of  a  tremendous  fire  from  the  enemy, 

A.  D.,   he  was  struck  dead  by  a  ball  from  the  Danish 

1718.  batteries.  His  sister,  Ulrikka  Elenora,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne,  and  raised  it  to  her  husband, 
Frederick  of  Hesse  Cassel,  who  first  had  to  swear,  that 
he  never  would  attempt  the  re-establishment  of  abso- 
lute power,  which  was  now  fully  abolished  in  Sweden, 
and  a  new  form  of  government  modeled. 

The  Swedish  senate  showed  little  grief  for  the  loss  of 
this  warlike  king,  who  had  only  involved  Sweden  in 
miseries  and  wars.  Upon  the  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  at  Liitzen,  1632,  the  inhabitants 
of  Stockholm  shed  tears ;  upon  that  of  Charles  XII. 
they  jubilated.  Some  have  believed,  that  he  was  not 
struck  by  a  cannon  ball  from  the  Danish  artillery,  but 
was  shot  by  a  traitor,  a  Swedish  Colonel  Seeker,  which, 
however,  has  never  been  proved.  Be  it  as  it  may,  the 
kingdom  of  Sweden  gained  by  his  death. 

On  the  first  news  of  the  king's  death,  his  favorite 
minister,  Baron  Gorts,  was  arrested,  brought  to  trial  for 
having  projected  a  dangerous  war  when  the  Swedish 
nation  was  exhausted  and  ruined,  and  was  publicly  be- 
headed in  Stockholm.  The  death  of  Charles  XII.  was  a 
great  relief  to  Denmark,  and  when  Tordenksjold,  the 
very  first  who  conveyed  the  intelligence  of  it,  entered 


34:6  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

the  king's  audience  chamber,  saying,  "  Charles  XII.  is 
dead,  and  there  is  not  one  Swede  in  the  whole  of  Nor- 
way," Frederick  IY.  embraced  him  joyfully,  and  hung 
a  gold  chain  round  his  neck. 

The  new  government  of  Sweden  now  looked  with  an 
ardent  desire  for  peace  with  Denmark,  which  was 
established  by  the  treaty  of  Fredericksborg,  the  a.  D. 
terms  of  which  were,  that  Sweden  should  pay  1720. 
Denmark  six  hundred  thousand  rixdollars  to  defray  the 
charges  of  the  war,  and  acknowledge  the  sale  of  Bremen 
and  Yerden,  which,  with  their  dependencies,  George  I., 
king  of  England  and  elector  of  Hanover,  had  purchased 
from  Denmark  for  eight  hundred  thousand  rixdollars  ; 
Sweden  should  renounce  her  exemption  from  paying 
Sound  Dues,  which  she  has  enjoyed  since  the  peace  of 
Bromsebro,  1645  ;  and  finally  Sweden  pledged  herself 
not  to  assist  any  more  the  Duke  of  Gottorp ;  France  and 
England  securing  to  Denmark  the  permanent  possession 
of  the  duchy  of  Schleswig.  So  happy  an  issue  for  Den- 
mark had  this  eleven  years'  war,  though  no  accession 
of  territory  was  gained. 

The  appearance  of  an  English  fleet  in  the  Baltic, 
coming  to  aid  Sweden,  finally  disposed  Czar  Peter  to 
pacific  measures,  and  he  consented  to  grant  peace  in 
Nystad,  a  town  of  Finland,  1721,  on  condition  of  being 
permitted  to  retain  Esthonia,  Livonia,  Ingria,  part  of 
Finland,  and  dominion  over  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  a 
highway  for  his  commerce  to  the  Baltic  ocean. 


IIISTOEY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  347 

The  war  thus  being  ended  between  Denmark  and 
Sweden,  a  profound  peace  ensued.  Denmark,  however, 
had  soon  after  to  empty  a  bitter  cup.  The  patriotic, 
brave,  and  magnanimous  Tordenskjold,  who  had  raised 
his  fatherland  by  many  victories  to  a  great  height  of 
naval  glory  and  greatness,  and  was  almost  adored  by 
the  king  and  the  people,  asked  permission  to  go  abroad. 
In  Hamburg  he  met  with  a  Swedish  colonel,  Stahl,  a 
mean-spirited  scoundrel,  who  tried  to  impose  upon  a 
young  rich  Danish  nobleman,  by  name  of  Zehn,  who 
accompanied  Tordenskjold.  Exasperated  at  such  con- 
duct, and  exchanging  high  words  with  Stahl,  who  called 
the  admiral  a  vulgar  sailor,  Tordenskjolk  gave  him  a 
sound  beating,  and  knocked  him  down  in  the  kennel, 
after  which  he  left  Hamburg  for  Hanover.  A  few 
weeks  after,  he  unfortunately  met  here  again  with 
Stahl,  who,  bringing  the  old  quarrel  again  upon  the 
carpet,  challenged  Tordenskjold  to  answer  for  his  offence 
by  a  duel  with  rapiers,  in  using  which  Stahl  was  a  great 
master.  Tordenskjold,  of  course,  answering  the  chal- 
lenge in  the  affirmative,  appeared  the  next  morning  at 
the  appointed  place,  close  by  Hildesheim.  The  two 
first  thrusts  he  parried,  but  then  Stahl  ran  his  sword 
under  Tordenskj old's  right  arm,  pulling  it  back  in 
tierce.  Torkenskjold,  perceiving  his  death  ivevitable, 
calmly  disposed  himself  to  meet  it  with  decency,  and 
covering  his  wound  with  his  handkerchief,  resigned 
himself  to  his  fate.  As  he  expired  from  the  loss  of  blood, 


348  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

he  exclaimed :  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  for  the   Nov.  20' 

sake  of  my  Kedeemer."     On  hearing  this  sad   A.D. 

1720 
event,  king  Frederic  IV.  shed  tears  and  ordered 

the  corpse  to  be  brought  to  Copenhagen  and  buried  in 

the  mariner's  church,  where  Tordenskjold  now  rests  in 

the  same  vault  with  Otto  Rud,  Niels  Juel,  Cort  Adeler, 

fiaben,  Sehested  and  Gabel,  who  all  so  often  had  led 

the  blood-red  Danish  flag  from  victory  to  victory  on 

the  Baltic  ocean,  the  dark  heaving  wave. 

By  the  peace  of  Fredericksborg,  the  duchy  of  Schles- 
wig  was  once  more  reunited  to  the  kingdom  ;  but  for 
the  many  centuries  through  which  the  Counts  of  Hol- 
stein  and  the  German-minded  dukes  of  Gottorp  had 
swayed  the  sceptre,  the  Danish  nationality  had  had  a 
difficult  fight  to  wage.  In  the  southern  part  of  Schles- 
wig  the  German  language  at  length  prevailed,  while 
in  the  northern  part  the  inhabitants  were  attached  to 
their  native  tongue,  and  to  the  manners  and  habits 
inherited  from  their  forefathers,  although  the  dukes  of 
Gottorp,  by  appointing  German  clergymen  and  intro- 
ducing German  schoolmasters  and  German  legal  pro- 
cedure, sought  to  naturalize  the  German  language,  even 
in  this  part  of  the  dukedom. 

Notwithstanding  Schleswig  was  now  reunited  to  the 
kingdom  and  for  all  subsequent  time  governed  by  the 
Danish  kings,  that  unnatural  state  of  language,  how- 
ever, continued  for  more  than  one  century,  and  first  in 
modern  times  energetic  regulations  have  been  issued 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  349 

to  protect  the  Danish  nationality  in  the  northern  part  of 
Schleswig.  But  the  reunion  of  Schleswig  to  the  king- 
dom put  Denmark,  throughout  a  long  series  of  years,  to 
very  much  trouble  and  heavy  expenses.  The  duke  of 
Gottorp,  Charles  Frederick,  making  now  the  city  of 
Keil  his  residence,  would  neither  subscribe  to  the  resig- 
nation of  Schleswig,  nor  come  to  any  amicable  agree- 
ment, and  became  a  very  dangerous  enemy  by  marrying 
the  Russian  princess  Anna,  a  daughter  of  Peter  the 
Great.  Frederick  IY.  had  continually  to  keep  fleets 
ready  in  the  Baltic  to  secure  Denmark  against  Russia, 
as  Peter  the  Great  and  his  successor,  the  empress 
Catharine  I.,  threatened  to  establish  by  force  the  claims 
of  the  duke.  Certainly  amicable  terms  were  afterwards 
contracted  with  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg,  but  in 
course  of  time  the  strife  was  renewed  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  be  very  dangerous  for  Denmark.  Frederick  IY. 
A.  D.  gained  an  accession  of  territory  for  the  kingdom 
1725.  by  laying  hold  on  the  fertile  county  of  Ranzau 
as  the  latter  count  had  been  killed,  and  his  younger 
brother,  on  being  brought  to  trial,  found  an  accomplice 
in  this  crime. 

During  his  whole  reign,  Frederick  IY.  was  actuated 
by  sincere  and  earnest  motives  to  introduce  useful  insti- 
tutions and  remedy  old  mistakes.  He  deserved  well  of 
the  Danish  peasantry,  by  abrogating  their  slavish  de- 
pendence on  their  masters.  He  enacted  a  law,  that  all 
peasants  born  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  should  be 


350  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

free ;  concerning  the  others,  it  was  determined  that 
they,  on  reasonable  terms,  could  buy  their  freedom ; 
the  tenants  should  be  permitted  to  keep  their  farms  for 
life,  and  neither  could  they  involuntarily  be  deprived 
of  them,  nor  be  forced,  as  before,  to  accept  of  desolate 
and  barren  farms  ;  and  on  the  whole  this  law  contained 
very  considerable  mitigations  of  those  feudal  rights 
claimed  by  the  noblemen  over  their  peasants,  which 
either  were  the  most  burdensome  in  their  own  nature, 
or  had  been  made  so  by  an  abusive  extension. 

Already  during  the  first  war  which  Frederick  IV. 
waged,  his  attention  had  been  directed  to  several  defi- 
ciencies in  the  military  affairs,  which  he  immediately 
tried  to  remedy ;  and  after  the  treaty  of  peace  (1700), 
he  employed  the  interval  of  tranquility  in  raising  a 
militia  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  in  equipping  a  respec- 
table fleet,  and  upon  the  whole,  in  paying  close  atten- 
tion to  the  posture  of  defence.  Besides  this  militia, 
there  was  kept  a  considerable  army  of  levied  soldiers ; 
the  cavalry  was  augmented  by  twelve  regiments,  each 
consisting  of  eight  companies.  He  established  two 
cadet  schools  in  Copenhagen,  to  educate  young  men 
both  for  the  fleet  and  the  army ;  schools  never  organized 
before,  and  the  want  of  which  had  been  deeply  felt. 
In  order  to  protect  the  capital  and  the  navy  against  the 
.renewal  of  the  dangers  to  which  they  had  been  exposed, 
when,  in  the  year  1700,  a  Swedish,  Dutch,  and  English 
fleet    bombarded    Copenhagen,    he    erected   two   sea 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  351 

batteries,  Tre  Kroner  (three  crowns),  and  Provestenen 
(touchstone).  The  navy  was  put  in  a  good  posture,  and 
the  number  of  marines  was  considerably  increased. 
To  augment  the  revenues  of  the  kingdom,  Frederick 
IV.  had  supplied  Austria,  England,  and  Holland  with 
twenty  thousand  men,  who  acquitted  themselves  with 
great  courage  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession. 
Under  the  illustrious  heroes,  prince  Eugene,  of  Savoy, 
and  the  duke  of  Marlborough,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  forces  of  England,  the  Danish  soldiers  had  shared 
the  glory  of  the  battles  of  ITochstedt,  JZamillies,  Oude- 
narde,  and  Malplaquet ;  and  the  duke  of  Marlborough, 
upon  whom  now  the  emperor  of  Austria  had  conferred 
the  dignity  of  a  prince  of  the  empire,  wrote  to  king  Fred- 
erick IV.,  that  for  the  gaining  of  the  victory  in  those  cele- 
brated battles  he  was  mainly  indebted  to  the  lion-hearted 
bravery  of  the  Danes,  who  likewise,  under  the  great 
Eugene,  fought  gallantly  in  Hungary  against  the  Turks. 
Frederick  IV.  made  many  improvements  in  the  regu- 
lation of  the  different  colleges,  and  caused  justice  to  be 
duly  and  quickly  administered,  and  the  laws  carried 
into  execution.  He  was  very  active  himself,  and 
sought  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  all  matters  of  conse- 
quence. To  the  administration  of  the  finances  he  paid 
a  strict  attention,  and  kept  the  pecuniary  affairs  in  an 
exemplary  order.  As  economical  as  the  king  was  in 
spending  the  public  means,  as  particular  was  he  in 
conferring  titles  and  badges  of  honor.     At  his  death 


352  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

the  kingdom  had  incurred  a  debt  of  three  millions  of 
rix-dollars ;  which,  however,  when  it  is  considered,  that 
Frederick  IV.  waged  expensive  wars,  and  even  after  the 
peace,  for  many  years,  had  to  keep  a  standing  army  and 
fleet  against  Russia,  and  that  many  disasters  visited  the 
country,  is  only  a  trifle,  and  not  to  be  laid  to  his  charge. 

An  enemy  more  fatal  than  the  swords  of  the  Swedes, 
a  frightful  pestilence,  raged  from  1710  to  1712,  in 
Copenhagen  and  on  the  island  of  Sjelland,  with  the  most 
destructive  effect,  and  took  off  great  numbers  ;  the 
North  Sea  breaking  through  the  dykes  in  the  marsh- 
lands on  the  western  coast  of  Schleswig,  destroyed 
property  to  the  amount  of  one  million  of  rix-dol-  A.D., 
lars,  and  Copenhagen  was  visited  by  a  destructive  l?28- 
fire,  continuing  for  several  days  and  consuming  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  city ;  on  which  occasion  science  and 
the  arts  suffered  a  great  loss,  as  a  great  deal  of  the  large 
University  library,  with  its  many  rare  manuscripts,  was 
destroyed. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  heavy  losses,  and  his  many 
great  expenses,  the  king  found,  however,  by  his  econ- 
omy, means  to  erect  the  splendid  palaces  of  Fredens- 
lorg  and  Frederiksberg,  as  also  the  spacious  exchequer. 
Commerce  and  manufactures  were  vigorously  promoted 
by  Frederick  IV.  The  trade  with  Greenland  was  re- 
newed, and  the  East  India  Company,  for  a  great  while 
ruined  altogether,  was,  at  the  close  of  his  reign,  again 
put  in  motion.     The  post-office  department,  having  for 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  353 

a  long  time  been  entrusted  to  private  men,  was  again 
administered  at  royal  expense,  the  surplus  being  ap- 
plied to  pension  civil  and  military  officers,  or  their  in- 
digent widows.  Previous,  however,  to  giving  an 
account  of  the  private  life  and  character  of  this  excel- 
lent king,  we  must  take  a  short  connected  view  of  the 
standing  of  school  affairs  and  literature  during  his 
reign.  The  public  instruction  had,  hitherto,  almost 
entirely  been  neglected  in  Denmark,  the  commonalty 
growing  up  in  the  grossest  mental  darkness.  But 
Frederick  IV.  merited  highly  the  grateful  thanks  of  the 
peasantry  by  erecting  two  hundred  and  forty  brick 
school  buildings,  and  assigning  money  to  keep  them  in 
repair  and  pay  the  teachers.  Amongst  other  charita- 
ble institutions,  ought  to  be  mentioned  the  founding  of 
Vaisenhuset  (the  Orphanotrophy),  for  the  education  of 
orphan  children,  with  which  hospital  an  excellent  school 
is  connected. 

In  Greenland,  Christianity  was  spread  by  the  noble 
and  pious  Hans  Egede,  who  left  his  pastorate  in  Nor- 
way, and  went  to  Greenland  with  his  wife,  Gertrude 
Rash,  a  Christian  heroine,  "  whose  adorning  did  not 
consist  in  putting  on  of  apparel,  but  in  the  hidden  man 
of  the  heart,  and  in  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  which  is,  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  great  price."  ' 
From  1721  to  1736,  Hans  Egede,  enduring  inexpressi- 
ble privations,  opened  his  mouth  boldly,  to  make 
known  the  mystery  of  the  Gospel  amongst  the  heathen- 


354  HISTORY    OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

ish  and  savage  Greenlanders.  His  faithful  wife,  who 
had  shared  his  hardships,  died  in  Greenland ;  soon  after 
which  he  went  down  to  Denmark,  where,  on  the  fifth 
of  November,  1758,  he  departed  from  life,  aged  seven- 
ty-three years,  to  receive  the  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord  shall  give  unto  all  them  that  have  loved 
his  glorious  appearing.  Pursuant  to  his  proposal,  a 
Greenlandish  seminary  was  established  in  Copenhagen, 
to  educate  missionaries,  Egede  himself  teaching  the 
Greenlandish  language.  His  son,  Paul  Egede,  con- 
tinued for  six  years,  with  Christian  fidelity,  his  father's 
missionary  work  in  Greenland,  to  the  great  good  and 
profit  of  many  souls ;  and  when  he  left  them,  his  part- 
ing words  were :  "  Preserve  with  meekness  the  ingraft- 
ed word,  and  grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God, 
whereby  you  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption." 
Upon  his  arrival  in  Copenhagen,  in  1742,  Paul  Egede 
was  appointed  minister  of  the  Church  of  Vartov  (the 
church  of  charity),  where  he,  renouncing  the  vanities  of 
all  worldly  pomp,  showed  himself  an  able  minister  of 
the  New  Testament,  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit, 
whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God.  Besides  dis- 
charging his  pastoral  duties,  he  translated  the  New  Tes- 
tament into  the  difficult  language  of  the  Greenlanders, 
and  published  other  works  of  consequence  for  the 
Greenlandish  mission. 

For  advancing  learning  and  the  arts,  nothing  of  con- 
sequence was  done  during  the  reign  of  Frederick  IY., 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  355 

as  the  king  himself  had  not  enjoyed  any  scientific  edu- 
cation. Nevertheless,  there  lived  during  his  reign 
several  men  of  letters :  Peter  Hansen,  Meseny  who  has 
distinguished  himself  by  standard  works  on  the  North- 
ern history  and  antiquities;  Thomas  Bartholin  de- 
serves particular  regard  for  the  universality  of  his 
genius,  which  embraced  a  wide  circle  of  history,  phil- 
osophy, and  physic;  Niels  Steno,  who,  after  having 
embraced  the  Catholic  faith,  passed  the  remainder  of 
his  days  in  foreign  countries,  acquired  fame  as  an 
anatomist;  the  Icelander,  Torfceus,  who  successfully 
applied  the  Icelandic  sources  to  throw  light  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  North,  and  preserved  alive  the  embers  of 
that  literary  spirit  which  already  early  had  been  stir- 
ring on  that  distant  island,  evinced  a  zeal  for  the  cul- 
tivation, of  letters,  which  does  him  the  highest  honor  ; 
the  Icelander,  Arne  Magnusson,  deserved  well  of  men 
of  letters  by  collecting  a  great  number  of  Icelandic 
manuscripts,  and  bequeathing  the  greatest  part  of  his 
means  to  publishing  them.  Thomas  Kingo,  bishop  of 
Fjunen,  acquired  the  fame  of  being  an  unsurpassed 
hymnologist,  his  hymn  book  being  in  use  for  a  long  time. 
Shortly  after  the  death  of  his  first  queen,  Louise,  the 
king  took  in  marriage  Anna  Sophia,  a  daughter  of  the 
deceased  lord  high  chancellor,  Count  Conrad  Eevent- 
low.  This  marriage  caused  great  disagreement  in  the 
royal  family,  particularly  provoking  the  crown  prince, 
Christian,  because  the  king  had  cohabited  with  Anna 
Sophia,  even  while  queen  Louise  was  living. 


356  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

Frederick  IV.,  before  his  death,  saw  his  kingdoms  in 
the  possession  of  every  happiness  which  could  flow  from 
economy,  frugality,  laboriousness,  and  from  the  salutary 
laws  and  institutions  which  he  had  established,  when  he 
died,  aged  fifty-nine  years,  after  a  glorious  reign  a.  d., 
of  thirty-one  years.  Whether  we  view  him  in  1730. 
his  public  or  private  character,  he  deserves  to  be 
esteemed  as  one  of  the  most  useful  of  the  Danish  kings. 
He  united  an  enterprising  spirit  with  the  greatest  pru- 
dence and  moderation,  the  utmost  vigor  of  authority 
with  the  most  exemplary  justice,  and  brought  his  king- 
doms to  a  pitch  of  eminence  and  wealth  which,  till  then, 
they  had  never  attained.  War  was  not  his  ruling  pas- 
sion, but  he  was  able  to  meet  it  with  firmness  and  valor. 
Nought  but  the  memory  of  soldier-like  bravery  survives 
Charles  XII.,  but  Frederick  IY.  has  left  behind  the 
memory  of  a  life  of  restless  activity,  perpetually  labor- 
ing for  the  improvement  and  prosperity  of  his  coun- 
tries ;  and  while  Charles  left  behind  him  nothing  but 
ruins,  Frederick  IY.  left  two  kingdoms  in  a  flourishing 
condition,  and  with  a  well  regulated  administration. 

But  his  admirable  institutions  were  but  partially  and 
feebly  enforced  under  his  son  and  successor,  Christian 
VI. ,  Denmark  and  Norway  relapsing  again  into  a.  D., 
confusion  and  pauperism.  No  sooner  had  he  1730. 
obtained  the  sovereignty  than  he  treated  with  great 
severity  the  queen-dowager,  his  stepmother,  Anna  So- 
phia, above  mentioned,  rightly  accounted  a  stain  on  the 
royal  family,  removed  her  from  the  court  to  Claushokriy 


HISTORY    OF   SCANDINAVIA.  .      357 

a  lonely  manor  in  Jutland,  and  immediately  dismissed 
a  great  number  of  the  higher  officers  of  state,  who  had 
enjoyed  his  father's  confidence,  entrusting  the  public 
affairs  to  the  ministers  of  state,  Baron  Ivar  Rosenkranz 
the  Counts  Louis  Pless,  Charles  Pless,  Schulin,  and 
John  Louis  Holstein,  all  of  whom  exercised  a  strong 
influence  upon  the  government. 

In  the  beginning,  it  was  likely  that  the  peasantry 
would  flourish  during  the  reign  of  this  king,  for  he 
instantly  abrogated  the  militia,  above  named,  which  on 
account  of  the  feudal  bondage  therewith  connected,  had 
been  greatly  burdensome  to  the  peasantry,  and  per- 
mitted every  countryman  to  settle  wheresoever  he  might 
desire.  By  this  change  the  peasantry  got  complete  per- 
sonal freedom,  as  well  as  the  other  orders ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, after  a  few  months,  he  enacted  a  new  law, 
forbidding,  upon  severe  punishment,  the  country  lads 
to  abandon  their  native  county,  unless  permitted  by 
the  noblemen  concerned;  and  after  a  couple  of  years 
the  militia  was  re-established,  the  time  of  military  ser- 
vice being  prolonged  from  six  to  eight,  and  thereafter 
to  twelve  years  ;  and  when  a  countryman,  after  his  term 
of  service  had  expired,  would  not  receive  whatsoever 
farm  the  nobleman  might  think  proper  to  give  him,  he 
had  to  submit  to  military  service  for  ten  years  more. 
The  enrollment  was  extended  to  the  fortieth  year  of 
age,  and  from  his  ninth  year  the  country  lad  was  bound 
to  remain  in  his  native  county ;  thus  again  the  liberal 


358      *  HISTORY    OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

and  salutary  regulations  of  king  Frederick  IV.  being 
annihilated,  and  the  peasantry  anew  sinking  under  the 
domineering  spirit  of  the  aristocracy. 

Several  other  regulations  affected  detrimentally  the 
peasantry  and  the  agriculture.  Many  noblemen,  for 
instance,  were  permitted  to  break  up  the  farms  and 
unite  the  ground  to  their  manors,  the  peasantry,  of 
course,  thereby  decreasing,  and  the  bond  service  in- 
creasing. Such  were  the  stipulations  in  favor  of  the 
higher  orders  of  the  state,  which  the  king  promoted  to 
all  offices  of  honor  and  emolument,  and  to  which  from 
the  very  beginning  of  his  reign,  his  partiality  was  abun- 
dantly conspicuous,  while  the  peasantry  was  in  the  low- 
est stage  of  degradation. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  government  under  Christian  VI. 
seems  to  have  been  extremely  aristocratic.  It  was  also 
of  very  detrimental  consequences,  that  the  king  passed 
a  law  by  which  the  merchants  were  restrained  from  im- 
porting grain  into  Denmark,  the  prices  of  corn  thereby 
rising,  and  the  progress  in  agriculture,  of  course, 
decreasing,  as  the  greater  certainty  thereby  produced 
for  making  a  market,  did  not  make  it  a  matter  of 
greater  moment  for  the  husbandman  to  prepare  the 
ground  sufficiently  for  a  rich  crop,  and  could  not  fail  to 
excite  somewhat  of  a  spirit  of  ease  and  inactivity. 

But  let  us  now  observe  some  particulars  of  the  re- 
ligious life,  perhaps  worthy  of  more  note  than  any  other 
circumstances  during  the  reign  of  Christian  VI.,  since 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  359 

it  will  be  found  to  have  received  a  very  great  influence 
during  the  period  under  consideration.  There  are 
periods  in  which  the  human  mind  seems  more  than 
usually  to  turn  strongly  to  religion  and  spiritual  con- 
cerns, and  to  feel  that  the  Heavenly  Majesty  must  be 
worshipped  in  spirit  and  truth,  and  the  flesh  crucified, 
with  the  affections  and  lusts  thereof,  and  such  a  period 
in  Denmark  was  the  reign  of  Christian  VI. 

In  opposition  to  the  unsubstantial  trusting  to  the 
letter  which  had  long  prevailed,  and  to  the  exorbitant 
weight  laid  on  the  ecclesiastical  formulas  and  symbols, 
all  of  which  kill,  while  only  the  spirit  gives  life,  there 
appeared  in  Denmark,  as  well  as  a  little  earlier  in  Ger- 
many, a  revival,  in  general  called  the  pietistie  disposi- 
tion of  mind,  which  endeavored  to  remove  that  luke- 
warmness  and  stagnation,  which  undeniably  in  a  great 
measure  had  long  prevailed  in  the  Lutheran  churches. 
Great  variances  arose  in  the  Church  between  the  differ- 
ent parties,  and  separatistical  conventicles  were  formed 
in  many  places.  The  king  himself,  being  of  a  stern, 
religious  mind,  was  highly  in  favor  of  the  revival, 
which  he  regarded  as  a  recovery  from  death  to  life,  and 
tried  in  different  ways  to  promote  the  religious  spirit ; 
but  the  means  he  used  were  almost  altogether  external, 
and  not  to  the  purpose  at  all,  failing  therefore  entirely 
of  the  effect  intended.  The  court  chaplain,  Bluhme^ 
and  the  queen,  Sophie  Magdalena,  exercised  a  great  in- 
fluence upon  the  foolish  ordinances  issued  in  reference 
to  ecclesiastical  matters. 


360  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

Going  to  church  every  Sabbath  was  peremptorily 
commanded  by  law,  the  withdrawal  from  which  being 
in  the  cities  punished  by  fines,  and  in  the  country  by 
pillorying  the  peasants  outside  the  church  door.  Danc- 
ing, masquerades,  comedy,  Christmas  games,  and  like 
amusements  were  forbidden,  as  hindering  the  attain- 
ment of  spiritual  and  heavenly  grace,  and  the  alienation 
from  selfishness  and  the  world ;  the  church  discipline 
was  vindicated  by  public  penance  and  rebukes  from  the 
pulpits. 

These  ordinances  very  likely  arose  from  the  king's 
own  unfeignedly  religious  mind ;  nevertheless  the  happy 
mean  was  not  found,  and  even  his  best  advocates  will 
find  no  apology  for  applying  such  compulsion  in  re- 
ligious affairs,  and  cannot  regard  it  as  a  commendable 
method  of  propagating  the  mild  and  pure  religion  of 
Christ,  who  will  not  have  involuntary  professors ;  and  it 
was  a  matter  of  course,  that  instead  of  a  real  and  pure  fear 
of  God,  there  appeared  everywhere  a  feigned  devoutness 
and  a  false  piety,  the  people  to  please  the  king,  making 
use  of  the  most  melting  religious  terms  of  this  valley  of 
misery,  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  the  celestial 
Canaan,  and  so  forth,  to  profit  substantially  by  his 
grace ;  paying  tithe,  as  Christ  says,  of  mint,  and  anise, 
and  cummin,  but  omitting  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law,  judgment,  mercy  and  faith. 

But,  in  spite  of  the  many  mistakes  above  mentioned, 
it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  Christian  YL,  in  many  other 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  361 

respects,  exercised  a  highly  beneficial  influence  upon 
the  spread  of  true  Christianity,  by  introducing  the  Act 

A.  D.,    of  Confirmation,  by  which  the  young,  after 

1736.  having  attained  to  mature  years,  should  confirm 
and  ratify  themselves  the  solemn  promises  made  by 
others  at  their  baptism ;  and  by  appointing  a  Board  of 
Inspectors,  which  had  to  superintend  the  clergymen's 
and  schoolmasters'  administration  of  their  offices,  and 
to  keep  a  watchful  eye  over  their  preaching  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  purely  and  genuinely,  as  also  to  ascer- 
tain that  the  books  which  were  to  be  published  were  not 
of  immoral  or  impure  contents. 

The  king  also  patronized  highly  the  public  instruc- 
tion, by  enacting  a  law  that  public  schools  for  the  peas- 
antry should  be  erected  round  about  in  the  country, 
and  by  issuing  useful  rules  for  the  method  of  teaching ; 
a  law,  however,  often  meeting  with  great  opposition,  on 
account  of  the  great  expenses  therewith  connected ;  and 
although  the  king  here  ought  to  have  made  use  of  his 
absolute  power  to  establish  this  important  institution, 
the  opposition,  nevertheless,  gained  the  victory,  in 
many  places  no  schools  being  erected. 

The  reign  of  Christian  VI.  may  be  considered  as  the 
epoch  of  the  revival  of  literature  in  Denmark  from  that 
lethargy  in  which  it  had  continued  under  Christian  V. 
and  Frederick  IV.,  both  of  whom  were  not  very  much 
interested  in  literary  affairs,  and  whose  incessant  wars 
diverted  their  attention  from  them.     The  University, 


362  HISTOKY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

which  had  suffered  by  the  fire  (1728),  and  was  in  a 
declining  state,  was  restored;  more  professors  were 
appointed,  and  given  better  salaries  than  before;  the 
examinations  were  made  more  strict,  and  a  new  consti- 
tution was  drawn  up  in  writing,  and  published.  An 
examination  in  law  was  for  the  first  time  instituted; 
and  the  science  of  law  being  considered  the  most  impor- 
tant, next  to  that  of  theology,  recovered  a  new  life 
from  the  learned  Andreas  Hoyer,  a  man  extensively 
versed  in  the  European  jurisprudence.  The  legal  pro- 
cedure was  highly  improved  by  a  new  regulation  of  the 
supreme  court,  and  particular  attention  was  given  to 
the  study  of  medicine,  and  its  connection  with  the  sci- 
ences of  botany  and  human  physiology ;  at  the  same 
time  the  subserviency  of  the  studies  to  the  practical 
uses  of  life  being  an  object  not  to  be  neglected. 

The  Latin  schools,  of  which  there  was  one  in  each 
city,  were  diminished,  some  of  them  being  changed  into 
common  schools,  and  the  Academy  of  Soro  (Academia 
Sorana),  which  was  founded  by  Christian  IV.  exclu- 
sively for  young  noblemen,  but  since  the  year  1665  had 
been  out  of  use,  was  recalled  to  life  and  inaugu-  a.  D., 
rated  a  year  after  the  death  of  Christian  VI.  1747- 
To  promote  the  fine  arts  the  king  erected  the  Royal 
Academy 'for  painting  and  drawing,  the  Venetian  and 
Flemish  manner  of  tempering  the  colors  with  oil 
instead  of  water,  being  introduced,  an  invention  which 
undeniably  gave  to  painting  a  greater  durability,  as  well 
as  a  warmth  more  approaching  to  nature. 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  363 

During  the  reign  of  this  king  two  learned  societies 
were  formed,  the  Literary  Society  of  Copenhagen,  and 
the  Society  of  the  Danish  Language  and  History, 
from  both  of  which  excellent  treatises  have  been  and 
still  are  published. 

Among  literary  men  of  this  period  deserve  to  be 
mentioned  Andreas  Hoyer,  above  named,  distinguished 
both  as  jurisconsult  and  historian,  and  remarkable  for 
his  great  judgment  and  perspicuity ;  Erik  Pontoppi- 
dan,  chancellor  of  the  University,  has  composed,  His- 
tory of  the  Danish  Church,  History  of  Norway,  Origines 
Hafnienses,  and  an  Explanation  of  Luther's  Catechism, 
all  works  classical  in  point  of  style,  and  to  be  depended 
on  in  point  of  facts ;  John  Gram,  royal  Historiographer, 
possessed  not  alone  of  great  philological  erudition,  but 
also  of  rare  knowledge  in  the  history  of  the  North,  on 
which  he  has  composed  many  critical  dissertations,  all 
written  with  great  judgment  and  impartiality ;  Andreas 
Samsing,  for  fifty  years  a  faithful  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel, has  left  behind  him  an  excellent  Latin  translation 
of  some  of  the  best  Danish  hymns,  of  which  I  may  be 
allowed  to  cite  a  proof : 

"  Tua,  Jesu,  mors  cruenta  et  profunda  vulnera, 
Grata  menti  dant  fomenta  contra  quaevis  tristia, 
Si  quid  mali  cogito,  tua  jubet  passio, 
Semper  Tui  recordari,  et  peocata  detestari." 

But  all  these  authors  wrote  mostly  either  in  German 
or  Latin,  thus  exercising,  properly  speaking,  no  influ- 


364  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

ence  upon  the  Scandinavian  literature.  We  have, 
therefore,  so  much  the  more  to  pay  attention  to  Louis 
Holberg,  born  in  the  city  of  Bergen,  Norway,  1684, 
who  has  made  a  great  epoch  in  the  historical  and 
dramatic  literature  of  the  Scandinavian  countries,  and 
not  alone  deserves,  but  will  keep  a  lasting  memorial. 
In  the  year  1718  he  was  appointed,  first,  Professor  of 
Metaphysics,  then  Professor  Eloquentiae,  and  at  length, 
Professor  Historiarum  et  Geographic.  During  his  pro- 
fessorship (1718-1747)  he  has  influenced  the  Danish 
nation  as  hardly  any  one,  either  before  or  after  him, 
partly  by  his  historical,  partly  by  his  dramatical  writ- 
ings, being  both  original  and  the  results  of  deep  study. 
His  Description  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  his  History 
of  Norway,  his  History  of  the  Church  Universal,  and 
his  History  of  the  Jews,  are  fruits  of  his  indefatigable 
study  and  cultivated  judgment,  and  of  a  purity  and 
flexibility  of  language  remarkable  for  the  time  in  which 
he  lived.  His  heroi-comic  poems,  Peter  Paars  and 
Niels  Klim  (the  last  written  in  Latin),  in  which  he 
Btrikingly  and  wittily  ridicules  all  that  foolish  pedantry, 
pertness,  and  vanity  that  prevailed  amongst  the  higher 
classes  of  his  time,  and  in  which  he  sometimes  soars  to 
a  pitch  of  the  sublime  equal  to  the  finest  flights  of 
Homer  and  Virgil,  whose  kind  of  style  he  in  a  mas- 
terly manner  has  imitated,  have  the  most  captivating 
charms  to  all  who  are  possessed  of  the  smallest  degree 
of  genuine  taste,  and  have,  by  an  uncommon  degree 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  365 

of  candor,  humor,  and  impartiality,  preserved  their 
value  long  after  their  immediate  interest  has  ceased. 

But  the  merit  of  the  dramatic  pieces  of  Louis  Hol- 
berg  is  still  much  higher.  Having  taken  the  French 
comedian,  Moliere,  as  his  pattern,  he  ridicules,  unde- 
niably sometimes  in  too  low  a  language,  the  fashionable 
women,  who  were  overrun  with  a  pedantic  affectation 
of  learning,  and  that  arrogant  and  supercilious  de- 
meanor of  the  nobility,  which  demanded  respect  from 
the  consideration  of  birth  or  fortune,  without  the  pos- 
session of  a  single  laudable  or  valuable  quality.  He 
certainly  possessed  that  invention,  which  is  the  very 
first  quality  of  a  dramatic  poet ;  he  is  never  deficient 
in  the  expression  of  passion,  and  in  his  most  laughable 
scenes  we  have  to  admire  the  art  of  the  poet,  and  to 
participate  in  the  delineation  of  his  characters,  every 
person  of  which  is  very  often  a  highly-finished  picture. 
Upon  the  whole,  in  most  of  his  pieces  we  cannot  but 
discern  the  marks  of  a  great  and  comprehensive  genius, 
an  inexhaustible  fund,  of  imagination,  the  most  aston- 
ishing ebullition  of  ridiculous  representations,  and  an 
infinite  knowledge  of  human  nature;  and  when  pic- 
turing the  pedantry  of  the  ladies,  the  pathetic  style  of 
ordinary  writers,  and  the  absurd  pride  of  the  ignorant 
nobility,  he  calls  often  to  our  memory,  the  words  of 
Horace :  lt  Pa/rturiunt montes,  nascitwr  ridiculus  musP 

In  his  youth  he  had  visited  four  times  the  Universi- 
ties of  Oxford,  Ley  den,  Paris,  and  Florence ;  he  spoke 


366  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

fluently  nearly  all  modern  languages,  not  to  mention 
that  he,  as  every  distinguished  Scandinavian  scholar, 
wrote  and  spoke  Latin  with  the  highest  degree  of  cor- 
rectness and  volubility.  After  having  been  exalted  to 
the  rank  of  a  baron,  he  repaired,  because  of  physical 
infirmity,  to  his  manor,  Terslose,  on  the  island  of  Sjel- 
land,  where  he  died,  unmarried,  on  the  27th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1754,  bequeathing  his  large  real  estates  and  ex- 
tensive library  to  the  Academy  of  Sor6.  His  last 
words  were :  "  I  have  always  endeavored  to  be  a  useful 
citizen  to  my  fatherland ;  now  I  am  feeble  and  weak, 
and  my  only  desire  is  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ." 

Christian  YI.  took  a  praiseworthy  care  of  diffusing  a 
spirit  of  commercial  industry,  and  the  prodigious  in- 
crease of  the  commerce  of  Denmark  is  mainly  to  be 
ascribed  to  his  reign.  The  .trade  of  the  East  India 
Company  was  extended  to  China,  and  vigorously  carried 
on ;  and  that  of  the  West  India  Company  was  consider- 
ably enlarged  by  buying  the  island  of  St.  Croix  of  Louis 
XY.  of  France.  A  bank  was  founded  in  Copenhagen, 
exercising  through  a  series  of  years  a  favorable  influence 
upon  trade  and  industry,  and  facilitating  in  a  high  de- 
gree the  currency.  The  king  put  himself  to  great 
expenses  in  improving  domestic  manufactures.  But 
although  many  manufacturers  of  cloth  and  silk  were 
encouraged  by  the  king's  liberality,  these  efforts,  how- 
ever, fell  short  of  success ;  their  manufactures  not  be- 
ing so  cheap  and  good  as  to  compete  with  the  produc- 
tions of  foreign  countries.    Yarious  expedients  were 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  367 

thought  of  to  obviate  that  rivalry,  but  for  a  long  time 
without  avail.  Much  money  was  also  spent  on  foreign 
projectors,  who,  too  willingly,  were  supported  by  the 
government,  and  became  a  very  great  drain  to  the 
wealth  of  the  kingdoms.  The  navy  has  hardly  ever 
been  better  administered  than  under  Christian  YL,  by 
the  talented  Frederick  Danneskjold,  Count  of  Samso. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Frederick  IY.  the 
navy  had  been  neglected,  consisting,  when  Dannesk- 
jold undertook  the  management,  only  of  seven  men-of- 
war  and  two  frigates,  but  numbering,  when  he  left, 
thirty  men-of-war  and  sixteen  frigates.  A  dry  dock 
was  established,  many  new  storehouses  were  erected, 
and  important  break-waters  reared  to  shelter  the  navy. 
Notwithstanding  these  expensive  undertakings,  the 
abilities  of  the  good  financier,  Danneskjold,  husbanded 
so  well  the  amount  of  money  he  had  to  dispose  of,  that 
on  his  leaving  the  administration,  one  million  rixdollars 
was  saved.  Danneskjold,  a  man  of  great  address  and 
extensive  knowledge,  who  had  gained  upon  the  favor  of 
the  king,  also  influenced'  other  branches  of  the  state 
concerns,  and  had  the  principal  share  in  setting  on  foot 
the  Bank  of  Copenhagen,  above  mentioned,  and  in 
granting  protections  to  trade  and  industry  ;  though  he 
deserves  highly  to  be  blamed  for  his  conduct  toward 
two  deserving  naval  officers,  Benstrwp  and  Frederick 
iMtken,  with  whom  he  had  become  at  variance,  and 
who,  through  his  interference,  suffered  severe  and  in- 
equitable treatment. 


368  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

Although  Denmark  and  Norway,  during  the  reign 
of  Christian  VI.,  continued  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
tranquility,  and  their  commerce  grew  with  their  navy, 
and  Danneskjold  labored  with  indefatigable  industry  in 
the  finances,  the  king,  however,  was  in  perpetual 
want  of  money,  the  kingdoms,  at  his  death,  being  in 
debt  for  two  and  a  half  millions  of  rixdollars ;  about 
the  same  as  during  his  predecessor,  who  had  not  reigned 
under  so  favorable  conditions,  but  was  involved  in  ex- 
pensive wars.  The  reason  was  the  king's  boundless 
desire  of  raising  new  buildings  and  costly  palaces, 
mainly  to  be  ascribed  to  his  ostentatious  queen,  Sophie 
Magdalena.  The  palace  of  Copenhagen,  which  Fred- 
erick IV.  with  great  expense  had  enlarged  and  repaired, 
was  pulled  down,  a  new  one,  called  the  palace  of  Chris- 
tiansburg,  being  erected,  and  fitted  up  with  such  an 
excessive  magnificence,  that  it  rivaled  the  most  splendid 
of  Europe,  and  cost  the  kingdom  the  enormous  sum  of 
three  millions  of  dollars.  Furthermore,  were  built  the 
palaces  of  Fredericksruhe,  Sophienberg,  Fremitage,  and, 
twelve  English  miles  from  Copenhagen,  the  pompous 
palace  of  Hirschholm,  erected  on  so  miry  a  ground  as 
soon  after  to  be  pulled  down.  Large  amounts  of  money 
were  also  squandered  away  on  relatives  of  the  queen 
and  other  foreigners,  who  crowded  into  the  country, 
and  upon  whom  donations,  pensions,  and  high  offices 
were  profusely  bestowed.  The  German  language  pre- 
vailed again  very  much  at  the  Danish  court ;  Christian 
VI.  himself  spoke  and  wrote  only  German  ;  neverthe- 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  369 

less  he  was  interested  in  the  Danish  literature,  and  took 
care  to  diffuse  the  Danish  language  in  the  northern 
part  of  Schleswig,  while  the  queen  professedly  despised 
Danish. 

Christian  YI.  had  several  difficulties  with  his  neigh- 
bors. From  his  father  he  inherited  a  dispute  with 
Hamburg,  respecting  an  alteration  made  in  the  currency, 
and  with  Hanover  a  dispute  arose  as  to  the  possession 
of  the  county  of  Steinhorst,  in  the  duchy  of  Lauen- 
burg,  both  of  which,  however,  were  composed.  With 
Charles  Frederick,  the  late  duke  of  Gottorp,  the  king 
was  continually  on  an  unpeaceable  footing,  and  al- 
A.D.,  though  an  alliance  was  made  between  Denmark,, 
1732.  Russia,  and  Austria,  which  secured  to  Denmark 
the  possession  of  the  Gottorp  part  of  Schleswig,  and 
put  an  end  to  the  dispute  for  a  season,  and  Charles 
Frederick  was  offered  a  compensation  of  one  million  of 
rixdollars,  he,  nevertheless,  obstinately  rejected  every 
proposal  for  an  amicable  agreement.  Under  his  son 
and  successor,  Charles  Peter  TJlrick,  these  dissenting 
terms  were  about  to  turn  highly  dangerous  for  Den- 
mark, as  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great, 
was  raised  to  the  Russian  throne,  and  now  secured  the 
A.D. ,  inheritance  of  the  imperial  purple  to  her  nephew, 
1743.  the  above  named  Charles  Peter  Ulrik,  and  to 
the  Swedish  crown  for  her  favorite,  Adoljphus  Frede- 
rick, a  prince  of  the  younger  line  of  the  house  of  Got- 
torp, and  through  the  Swedish  king,  Charles  IX.'s 
daughter,  Catharina,  a  descendant  from   the  warlike- 


370  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

house  of  Yasa.  The  election  of  Adolphus  Frederick  to 
fill  the  throne  of  Sweden  after  the  death  of  king 
Frederick  of  Hesse,  came  within  a  hair  of  occasioning  a 
dangerous  war  between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  where  a 
considerable  part  of  the  Swedish  nobility,  clergy,  and 
peasantry,  wished  to  secure  the  succession  to  the  Swe- 
dish throne  to  the  Danish  crown  prince,  Frederick,  of 
whose  amiability,  kind  disposition,  and  popularity, 
favorable  opinions  were  in  vogue  in  Sweden.  Par- 
ticularly amongst  the  brave  peasantry  from  the  province 
of  Dalecarlia  a  violent  movement  arose,  five  A.D., 
thousand  of  them  advancing  upon  Stockholm,  to  1743- 
force  the  election  of  the  Danish  crown  prince.  A  most 
fearful  and  bloody  conflict  ensued  within  the  city,  and 
after  several  days  of  fighting,  the  undaunted  peasants 
from  the  mountains  of  Dalecarlia  were  overmatched 
and  compelled  to  submit.  With  a  loss  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred  men  their  military  operations  terminated, 
and  Sweden,  in  order  to  please  the  Russian  empress, 
and  avoid  hostilities,  consented  to  elect  Adolphus 
Frederick  successor  to  the  crown  of  Sweden,  excluding 
the  Danish  crown  prince.  Dejected,  melancholy,  and 
even  enraged  at  seeing  his  son's  expectations  frustrated, 
and  yet  cherishing  a  glimpse  of  hope  of  his  success, 
Christian  YI.  equipped  his  army  and  fitted  out  his 
fleet,  threatening  to  wage  a  sanguinary  war ;  but  Swe- 
den making  great  preparations,  and  Russia  promising 
.to   march  twenty   thousand    auxiliary   troops  against 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  371 

Denmark,  the  Danish  king  deemed  it  unsafe  to  bid  de- 
fiance to  so  mighty  an  alliance.  The  strife  dropped 
fortunately,  and  amity  was  entertained  with  Eussia 
during  the  reign  of  the  empress  Elizabeth,  although 
Charles  Peter  Ulrick,  the  elected  successor  to  the  Eus- 
sian  throne,  was  highly  exasperated  at  Denmark,  and 
looked  out  for  every  opportunity  to  rekindle  the  flame 
of  war. 

Christian  YI.  was  of  a  gentle,  pious,  and  sincere  dis- 
position, and  preferred  and  cherished  the  arts  of  peace- 
ful  industry  to  those  of  selfish   and   destructive  war. 
He  gained  the  affection  and  confidence  of  his  subjects 
by  many  good  institutions,  tending  to  promote  litera- 
ture, public  instruction,  commerce,  and  naval  affairs ; 
and  there  is  more  pleasure  in  contemplating   such  a 
man's   character  than   that   of  a  mad  conqueror  like 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  the  one  producing  happiness, 
and  the  other  misery  in  the  world.     The  king  himself 
was  of  an  unfeigned  piety  to  God,  and  an  exemplary 
Christian,  and  his   mistakes  in  promoting  a  true  re- 
ligious life  are  more  to  be  ascribed  to  the  artful  and 
hypocritical     insinuations     of     his     court     chaplain, 
A.D.,    Bluhme,  than  to  himself.     After  a  reign  of 
1746.    sixteen  years,  he  died  in  the  vigor  of  his  age. 
No  sooner  had  Frederick  V.  succeeded  his  father  to 
A.D.,  the  throne  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  than  that 
1746.   seriousness   and  formality   of    manner  which, 
during  his  father's  reign,  had  prevailed  at  the  Danish 


372  HISTOKT   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

court,  was  done  away,  and  a  more  jovial  life  took  place, 
comedies  and  concerts  being  again  represented,  and 
other  public  amusements  permitted. 

During  the  reign  of  Christian  VI.  there  had  been 
upheld  a  great  distance  between  the  people  and  the 
royal  family,  the  members  of  which  never  appeared  in 
public  except  when  accompanied  and  attended  by  costly 
liveried  servants  and  soldiers ;  the  palace  of  Christians- 
berg,  also,  was  surrounded  by  numerous  sentinels ;  all 
of  which  ceased  during  Frederick  V.'s  reign,  who  re- 
garded all  stiffness  and  affected  precision  as  not  com- 
patible with  modern  civilization,  and  married  the  jo- 
vial princess  Louise,  a  daughter  of  George  II.  of  Eng- 
land, both  of  whom,  free  from  all  pride  and  vain  am- 
bition, made  themselves  extremely  beloved  of  their 
subjects.    To  see  the  royal  couple  making  their  appear- 
ance in  the  theatre,  the  celebrated  Louis  Holberg,  be- 
fore mentioned,  called  a  fascinating  sight.    On  the  10th 
of   September,   1747,   Frederick  V.   and    his   queen, 
Louise,  were  crowned  and  anointed  in  the  palace  of 
Fredericksborg,  the  bishop  of  Copenhagen,  Dr.  Hersleb, 
performing  the  solemn  act.     In  the  beginning,  many 
tried  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the  queen's  favor, 
thereby  to  obtain  rank,  dignities,  and  high  offices,  but 
she  answered  that  she  had  come  to  Denmark  to  embel- 
lish the  days  of  her  royal  consort,  not  to  interfere  in 
public   affairs,  which   did  not   appertain  to  her   sex. 
Count  Sekulin,  one  of  the  few  able  and  skillful  Ger. 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  373 

mans  who,  during  Christian  VI. 's  reign,  had  arrived  in 
the  country,  and  risen  from  a  plain  and  poor  student  to 
the  highest  dignities,  kept  his  situation  under  Frede- 
rick V. 

After  him,  the  great  politician  and  acute  diplomat, 
John  Hartvig  Ernst,  Count  of  Bernstorf,  gained  com- 
pletely the  confidence  of  his  royal  master,  and  signally 
displayed  his  splendid  abilities,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  highly  deserving  DannesJcjold,  above  named, 
without  any  competent  reason,  was  discharged.  The 
financial  affairs  were  excellently  administered  by  the 
baron,  Otto  Thott.  Also,  the  great  favorite  of  the  king, 
Adam  Gotllob  Moltke,  later  exalted  to  Count  of 
Bregentved,  a  beautiful  estate  in  the  island  of  Sjelland, 
exercised  a  considerable  influence  upon  the  state  affairs. 
A.D.,  The  dearly-beloved  queen  Louise  became,  on 
1149.  the  29th  of  January,  mother  to  crown-prince 
Christian,  afterwards  king  of  both  kingdoms  by  the 
name  of  Christian  VII. ;  but  two  years  after,  the  twin- 
kingdoms  had  to  lament  her  death,  shortly  after  her 
delivery  of  a  still-born  prince. 

That  spirit  of  disagreement  which  had  so  long  ex- 
isted between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  was  done  away 
A.D.,  with  by  the  wise  diplomatic  efforts  of  Schulin 
1750.  and  Bernstorff,  a  treaty  being  concluded,  by 
which  Adolphus  Frederick,  the  elected  successor  to  the 
Swedish  crown,  and  the  head  of  the  younger  line  of  the 
dukes  of  Holstein,  renounced  his  claims  to  Schleswig, 


374:  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

and  engaged  himself  to  exchange  the  ducal  part  of 
Holstein,  when  this  soon,  by  inheritance,  might  devolve 
to  his  line,  for  the  two  counties,  Oldenburg  and  Del- 
menhorst.  The  want  of  certain  limits  between  Norway 
and  Sweden,  which  long  had  caused  violent  disputes, 
was,  in  the  following  year,  adjusted  by  plenipotentiaries 
from  both  kingdoms ;  and,  to  contract  a  yet  firmer 
union  between  Denmark  and  Sweden,  espousals  were 
arranged  between  the  Danish  princess,  Sophie  Magda- 
lena,  and  the  Swedish  crown-prince,  Gustavus,  a  son  of 
Adolphus  Frederick,  afterwards  king  of  Sweden,  by  the 
name  of  Gustavus  III.  The  wedding  ceremony  was,  how- 
ever, not  performed  till  after  the  death  of  Frederick  V. 

At  this  time,  nearly  all  Europe  was  involved  in  the 
devastating  Prussian  seven  years  war,  which  A.D., 
the  talented  warrior,  Frederick  the  Great,  1756-63. 
waged  triumphantly  against  Austria,  Eussia,  France, 
Sweden  and  Poland,  all  regarding  with  jealousy  the 
increase  of  the  Prussian  monarchy ;  and  the  empress 
Elizabeth  of  Russia  entertaining  a  personal  hatred  to 
Frederick  the  Great,  who  had  often  made  her  the  ob- 
ject of  his  political  satires,  and  the  empress  of  Austria, 
Maria  Theresa,  still  being  dissatisfied  with  the  loss  of 
Silesia  by  the  peace  of  Dresden,  1745. 

Although  Denmark,  through  BernstorfTs  wise  diplo- 
macy, was  happy  enough  not  to  be  involved  in  this 
destructive  war,  it  was,  nevertheless,  the  cause  of  heavy 
expenses,  it  being  deemed  necessary,  to  secure  the 
frontiers,  to  keep  a  considerable  standing  army  in  Hoi- 


HISTOHY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  375 

stein.     Besides,  an  alliance  was  made  between  Den- 
mark  and  Sweden,  both  joining  together  in  having 
their  fleets  in  the  Baltic  during  the  war,  to  protect  the 
commerce  of  the  North  against  the  hostile  privateers, 
all  of  which  was  a  great  drain  on  the  public  treasury. 
The  w^ar,  at  length,  approached  to  the  Danish  fron- 
A.  D.,  tiers.    The  French  troops  had  entered  Hanover, 
1757.     where  the  French  general,  D'Mree,  defeated, 
near  Hastenbek,  an  army  of  Prussians  and  Englishmen, 
commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland ;  but  Frede- 
rick V.  of  Denmark  was  happy  enough,  through  the 
A.  D.,    interference  of  Count  Lynar,  to  effect  the  con- 
1757.    vention  of  Zeven,  in  Hanover,  pursuant  to  which 
the  allied  army  had  to  separate ;  a  convention,  however, 
neither  ratified  by  the  English  nor  the  French  king, 
and,  therefore,  of  no  long  duration. 

But  it  was  the  fate  of  Denmark  soon  to  enter  into  a 
yet  more  critical  situation.  An  unexpected  event  deliv- 
ered the  king  of  Prussia  from  the  ruin  that  seemed  to 
threaten  him  at  the  close  of  his  last  campaign.  Eliza- 
A.  D.,  beth,  the  empress  of  Kussia,  died,  and  was  suc- 
1762.  ceeded  by  her  nephew,  Charles  Peter  Ulrik, 
who  now  mounted  the  Russian  throne  by  the  name  of 
Peter  III.,  and  who  entertained  a  romantic  admiration 
of  the  Prussian  king,  but  an  unquenchable  hatred 
against  D  enmark.  He  immediately  re-demanded  Schles- 
wig,  which  Adolphus  Frederick  had  renounced  in  1750. 
Denmark  peremptorily  refusing  his  demand,  Peter  III. 


376  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

marched  an  army  to  Germany  to  attack  Denmark,  and, 
as  he  declared,  entirely  to  turn  away  the  Danish  royal 
family,  against  which  he  cherished  the  most  inveterate 
hatred. 

Meanwhile  Denmark  had  made  strenuous  military 
preparations  to  meet  the  threatening  tempest,  Frederick 
V.  launching  his  fleet  in  the  Baltic,  numbering  thirty- 
six  men-of-war  excellently  equipped,  and  marching  to 
Mecklenburg,  his  army  consisting  of  seventy-one  thou- 
sand men,  commanded  by  the  French  general  /St.  Ger- 
main, who,  upon  request  of  the  Danish  king,  had  un- 
dertaken to  conduct  the  military  operations.  The 
Russian  and  Danish  armies  approaching  each  other  in 
Mecklenburg,  a  bloody  battle  was  impending,  when  the 
sudden  intelligence  was  conveyed  to  the  Danish  court, 
that  Peter  III.,  who,  by  his  imprudent  reforms,  had 
given  offence  to  a  great  body  of  his  subjects,  had  a.  D., 
been  dethroned,  mainly  by  his  wife,  and  killed  1763. 
in  prison  a  few  days  after  his  deposition.  It  has,  how- 
ever, not  been  fully  ascertained,  whether  he  was  tho 
victim  of  disease  or  violence.  Be  it  as  it  may,  his 
death  delivered  Denmark  from  the  imminent  danger 
that  threatened  her,  the  more  so,  as  the  empress,  Catha- 
rina  IZ,  who  now  usurped  the  Russian  throne,  renewed 
friendship  and  peace  with  Denmark,  and  resolved  to 
observe  a  strict  neutrality. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  peace 
with  Russia  was  not  to  be  trusted,  as  long  as  the  dispu- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  377 

table  point  concerning  Schleswig  was  not  settled.  The 
celebrated  Bernstorfx",  therefore,  deserved  highly  of 
Denmark  for  getting  this  point  satisfactorily  deter- 
mined. After  long  negotiations  he  was  happy  enough 
to  adjust  a  treaty,  by  which  the  House  of  Hoi  stein  re- 
nounced all  claims  to  the  former  Gottorp  part  of  Schles- 
wig, and  Denmark  obtained  the  ducal  part  of  Holstein 
in  exchange  for  the  counties  of  Oldenburg  and  Del- 
menhorst,  but  had,  at  the  same  time,  to  pay  the  great 
debt  of  the  house  of  Holstein,  and  to  resign  the  diocese 
of  Liibeck,  which  Frederick  Y.,  with  great  expense, 
had  purchased  for  his  younger  son,  the  crook-backed 
prince,  Frederick,  whom  the  king  had  by  his  second 
queen,  Juliane  Marie,  of  Brunswick-Luneburg-Wolfen- 
buttel,  to  whom  he  had  been  married  on  the  eighth  of 
July,  1752.  This  treaty  being  subscribed  to  a  year  after 
the  death  of  Frederick  Y.,  was  first  ratified  some  years 
after,  when  the  Russian  crown-prince  Paul,  in  whose 
behalf  his  mother,  Catharina  II.,  had  concluded  it,  was 
past  minority.  On  the  same  occasion  was  Hamburg, 
after  some  controverted  points  were  settled,  unbound 
from  her  dependence  on  Holstein,  and  declared  a  free 
imperial  city.  Frederick  Y.  bought  that  part  of  the 
island  of  Aro  which  belonged  to  the  duke  of  Gl  ticks- 
burg,  with  the  proviso  that  he  paid  the  debt  contracted, 
amounting  to  about  one  million  of  rix-dollars.  , 

During  the  reign  of  this  king,  as  during  that  of  his 
predecessor,  large  sums  were  spent  in  promoting  do- 


378  HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

niestic  manufactures  in  Denmark ;  but  however  well- 
meaning  these  endeavors  might  be,  particularly  origi- 
nating from  the  great  Bernstorff,  their  consequences 
were  not  profitable  nor  permanent ;  the  manufacturing 
of  many  things,  as  silks,  and  other  fine  manufactures, 
with  which  many  thousands  in  Copenhagen  were  occu- 
pied, was  unnatural  to  Denmark,  and  only  brought  to 
pass  by  large  expenses,  and  by  forbidding  the  import  of 
foreign  articles.  These  being  cheaper,  were,  of  course, 
imported  into  the  country  in  great  quantities,  and 
greedily  sought  after,  ignoring  the  severe  punishments 
inflicted  upon  those  who  were  found  guilty  of  such 
importations. 

Of  greater  use  was  the  foundation  of  the  armory  near 
Msenore,  and  of  the  cannon  foundry  and  the  powder 
mills  near  Fredericksvoerk,  by  which  the  army  was  pro- 
vided with  arms  and  ammunitions.  In  spite  of  the 
high  tariff  placed  upon  trade  and  other  ways  of  living, 
in  order  to  create  for  manufactures  and  home-bred  com- 
modities a  home  market,  nevertheless  the  great  juris- 
consult, Henry  Stam/pe,  who  was  attorney-general,  and 
exercised  a  beneficial  influence  upon  many  branches  of 
the  state  affairs,  effected  a  modification  of  the  pressing 
restrictions  which  hitherto  had  been  placed  on  commer- 
cial and  mechanical  corporations.  Also  trade  and 
navigation  were  highly  patronized  under  this  king. 
Already  Christian  YL,  towards  the  close  of  his  reign, 
had  contributed  not  a  little  to  increase  the  Danish  com- 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  379 

merce  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  his  name  a  treaty 
was  concluded  with  Algiers,  confirmed  by  Frederick 
Y.,  who  meantime  had  ascended  the  throne,  and  on 
the  whole,  continued  his  father's  endeavors,  concluding 
commercial  treaties  with  Morocco,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  the 
Tukish  Sultan,  Mustapha  III.,  Genoa  and  Naples. 

Hereby  a  foundation  was  laid  for  the  important  con- 
veyance of  freight,  which  Denmark  had  in  the  Medit- 
erranean, but  the  immediate  trade  with  Africa  became 
of  no  consequence,  though  Denmark  spent  immense 
sums  on  equipping  merchantmen  for  that  purpose; 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  East  and  "West  Indian 
trade  flourished,  and,  at  length,  was  raised  to  a  height 
hitherto  .unknown,  and  could  not  fail  to  be  an  inex- 
haustible source  of  wealth  to  the  nation ;  and  it  cannot 
be  denied,  that  during  the  reign  of  Frederick  Y.  a 
variety  of  excellent  laws  were  enacted  for  the  encour- 
agement of  trade. 

But  the  financial  affairs  grew  still  worse  during  the 
reign  of  this  king.  In  the  first  eight  years  the  debt 
was  reduced  to  one  million  of  rix-dollars,  but  afterwards 
grew,  year  by  year.  The  reason  was  the  great  expenses 
in  fitting  out  the  army  and  the  fleet  on  account  of  the 
Prussian  seven  years'  war,  and  yet  more,  the  necessary 
preparations  for  the  war  against  Russia;  finally  the 
king's  splendid  court,  as  also  the  considerable  amounts 
of  money  spent  on  supporting  manufactures,  mechanical 
occupations,  and  expensive  commercial  undertakings. 
Another  hardy  enterprise,  on  which  was  spent  more 


380  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

than  a  million  of  rix-dollars,  was  the  attempt  at  break- 
ing and  cultivating  the  vast  heaths  of  Jutland,  by  Ger- 
man colonists.  The  attempt,  however,  falling  short  of 
success,  contributed,  nevertheless,  to  make  the  cultiva- 
tion of  potatoes  more  known  in  Denmark,  which  now 
produces  the  finest  kinds  of  this  vegetable. 

The  public  treasury  was  also  very  much  encumbered 
by  the  purchase  of  the  possessions  which  belonged  to 
the  duke  of  Ploen,  and  of  the  allodial  estates  of  the 
duke  of  Gliicksburg.  To  remedy  the  increasing  scarcity 
of  money,  it  was,  therefore,  resolved,  upon  the  propo- 
sal of  Count  Schimmelmann,  who,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  Frederick  V.,  tried  to  put  the  finances 
upon  a  better  footing,  to  dispose  of  the  large  estates 
which  the  crown  possessed.  These  estates  hitherto 
having  only  yielded  very  small  revenues,  were  now  sold 
with  great  profit,  and  amounted  to  considerable  sums ; 
moreover,  an  extra  tax  was  imposed,  which,  to  many, 
became  very  burdensome,  every  person,  after  having 
attained  to  the  twelfth  year  of  age,  without  respect  of 
person,  being  forced  to  pay  a  tribute  of  one  rix-dollar 
yearly. 

But  although  this  taxation  was  complied  with,  with- 
out the  faintest  murmur  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and 
afforded  the  king  the  most  abundant  supplies  for  the 
accomplishment  of  all  his  designs,  and  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  pleasures  of  his  splendid  court,  the  disor- 
der of  the  finances  was,  nevertheless,  so  great,  that  at 
the  expiration  of  the  reign  of  Frederick  V.  the  debt  of 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  381 

the  state  had  reached  the  immense  amount  of  twenty 
millions  of  rix-dollars ;  a  debt  which  ever  since  has  been 
too  heavy  a  burden  for  Denmark  to  get  rid  of,  the  king 
himself  being  most  to  blame  in  this  matter,  as  his 
desire  to  imitate  the  luxurious  court  of  Louis  XV.  of 
France,  had  highly  contributed  to  exhaust  the  wealth 
of  his  kingdoms. 

The  severe  restrictions  placed  on  the  peasantry  by 
Christian  VI.  continued  yet  during  the  reign  of  Frede- 
rick V.,  and  became  yet  severer  than  before,  a  law 
being  enacted,  that  the  country  lad,  from  the  very  time 
he  had  filled  his  fourth  year,  should  be  bound  to  remain 
in  his  native  country.  The  peasants  groaned  yet  under 
all  the  miseries  flowing  from  the  despotic  power  of  the 
nobility.  The  severe  treatment  to  which  they  were 
exposed  occasioned  many  to  concert  measures  for  run- 
ning from  their  native  place  and  emigrating  from  the 
country,  notwithstanding  they,  if  apprehended,  had  to 
undergo  the  severest  punishment.  Many  estates,  there- 
fore, were  so  deserted  .that  the  government  found  it 
necessary  to  permit  the  administration  of  alms-houses 
and  orphanotrophies  to  convey  poor  children  to  the 
noblemen  to  farm  their  estates. 

The  sale  of  the  large  estates  belonging  to  the  crown, 
also,  had  unfavorable  consequences  on  the  peasants,  who 
in  very  few  places  were  able  to  buy  their  farms  them- 
seVes.  Many  new  manors,  therefore,  were  erected  on 
the   crown   estates   disposed   of,  and  numerous  farms 


382  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

pulled  down,  the  peasants  often,  under  these  new  mas- 
ters, not  getting  so  good  terms  as  during  the  royal  ad- 
ministration. 

But  notwithstanding  these  encroachments  so  highly 
unfavorable  to  the  peasantry,  an  active  interest  com- 
menced just  at  this  time  to  manifest  itself  for  this  class 
of  society,  and  caused  the  attention  of  the  government 
to  be  drawn  to  their  pitiable  condition,  and  to  the  gross 
deficiencies  and  abuses  which  prevailed  among  all  the 
agricultural  classes.  The  enlightened  Count,  A.  G. 
Moltke,  before  mentioned,  was  desirous  of  making  the 
best  possible  improvements  in  agriculture,  and  pre- 
vailed upon  the  king  to  give  the  liberty  of  the  press  to 
such  authors  who  published  books  on  state  affairs  and 
agriculture;  on  which  occasion  several  writings  and 
treatises  were  issued,  not  only  throwing  light  upon  the 
bad  condition  of  agriculture,  but  also  proving  this  to  be 
founded  in  the  many  restrictions  and  oppressions 
placed  on  the  peasantry.  A  royal  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, which  particularly  had  to  attend  to  the  eco- 
nomical part  of  agriculture,  causing  several  laws  to  be 
enacted  aiming  at  abrogating  that  hitherto  existing  com- 
munity of  ground,  in  so  high  a  degree  detrimental  to 
agriculture. 

The  new  spirit  of  liberty,  which  in  view  of  the  pea- 
santry began  to  stir,  did  also  appear  in  the  efforts  of 
several  noble-minded  lords  to  improve  the  economical 
situation  of  their  peasants.  Amongst  these,  Bemstorff, 
minister  of  state,  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  who,  upon 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  383 

advice  of  his  nephew,  A.  P.  Bernstorff,  parceled  the 
grounds,  and  abrogated  all  community  on  his  estates, 
and  granted  his  peasants  freedom  from  bond-service. 

Frederick  V.,  though  not  a  man  of  letters  himself, 
was,  nevertheless,  a  munificent  patron  of  science  and 
the  arts.     The  Academy  of  Soro,  the  re-establishment 

A.D.,   of  which  Christian  VI.  had  prepared,  was  re- 

1747.  called  to  life  and  inaugurated,  which  is  especial- 
ly to  be  ascribed  to  HoTberg  bequeathing  his  immense 
riches  of  estate  and  money  and  his  large  library  to  this 
institution.  There  lived  under  Frederick  V.  and  the 
following  king  many  celebrated  men  of  learning,  of 
whom  I  shall  enumerate  a  few  of  the  most  eminent  and 
remarkable. 

In  the  science  of  law  Kofod  Ancher  and  Andreas 
Schytte  excelled,  not  to  forget  Henrik  Stampe,  before 
named,  who  all  made  an  equally  eminent  figure  in  the 
political  as  in  the  literary  world,  their  works  being  the 
fruit  of  mature  study,  and  written  in  a  refined  and 
classical  style.  As  historians,  we  have  to  mention  the 
fundamental  investigator,  Xangebek,  who  has  gained  a 
great  reputation,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  by  his  work, 
Scriptores  rerum  Danicarum  Medii  ^Evi,  and  Peter 
Suhm,  whose  favorite  subject  was  the  Northern  mythol- 
ogy, on  which  he  had  published  a  work  of  deep  erudi- 
tion, which  entitles  him  to  the  character  of  a  thorough 
historian.  Erik  JPontoppidan,  above  named,  continued 
to  enrich  the  literature  by  eminent  productions  ;  for  in- 
stance, his  work,  Exploits  of  the  Danes  abroad,  writ- 


384:  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

ten  in  Latin,  acquired  for  him  a  great  fame.  Pro- 
fessor Oeder  has,  by  his  work,  Flora  Danica,  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  great  botanist.  Cramer  was  a 
famous  ecclesiastical  orator — even  known  abroad.  The 
German  poet,  Klopstock,  who  was  supported  by  Frede- 
rick "V.,  by  his  immortal  works  is  known  to  the  whole 
civilized  world.  In  point  of  fancy  and  imagination 
hardly  any  poet  has  gone  beyond  him ;  and  his  poetry- 
exhibits  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  the  true 
pathetic.  His  lyric  poem,  Messias,  has  raised  him  an 
everlasting  monument.  The  Danish  poet,  John  Her- 
man  Vessel,  bom  in  Norway,  1742,  died  in  Co-  a.D., 
penhagen,  whose  genius  and  humor  are  never  1785. 
to  be  forgotten,  has  delivered  masterpieces  in  dramatic 
literature,  all  distinguished  for  a  correctness  of  lan- 
guage, a  harmony  of  numbers,  and  a  brilliancy  of 
metaphor  hardly  ever  surpassed,  not  to  mention  the 
striking  wit  which  he  in  a  mas:erly  manner  knew  how 
to  apply. 

The  great  politicians,  also,  Schlegel,  Mallet,  Roger, 
and  Mcverdil,  ought  to  be  cited.  Eeverdil  was  appointed 
teacher  in  French  to  the  young  crown-prince,  Christian, 
and  afterwards  availed  himself  of  the  great  influence 
he  exercised  upon  his  pupil,  to  act  in  behalf  of  the 
oppressed  peasantry ;  in  which  respect  Oeder,  also,  the 
great  botanist,  merits  an  everlasting  remembrance.  The 
great  statesman,  Bernstorff,  influenced  the  king  to  send 
the  learned  Professor  Niebuhr  to  Arabia,  whose  re- 
searches have  thrown  a  new  light  on  mineralogy  and 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  385 

oriental  history.  The  celebrated  Icelanders,  John  Erich- 
son,  Skule  Thorlacius,  Grim  Thorkelin,  and  Sandvig, 
applied  themselves  diligently  to  examine  the  northern 
antiquities.  Sandvig  has  made  himself  famous  by  his 
Translation  of  the  Edda,  or  sacred  book  of  the  Scandi- 
lavians,  whose  author,  Snorro  Sturleson,  lived  in  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  was  supreme 
judge  of  Iceland.  Mallet,  above  named,  has  given  an 
abridgment  of  this  remarkable  book,  and  shown  that 
Snorro  had  composed  it  with  the  sole  purpose  of  preserv- 
ing the  memory  of  the  ancient  Scandinavian  poetry,  and 
of  the  wild  and  massive  mythology  therewith  insepa- 
rably connected. 

During  the  reign  of  Frederick  V.,  two  important 
societies  were  formed  in  Copenhagen,  and  Throndhjem, 
Norway :  the  Society  of  Belle  Lettres,  and  the  Lite- 
rary Society  of  Norivay.  Physics  and  cameralistics,  for 
which  C3unt  A.  G\  Moltke  had  great  affection,  were 
vigorously  pursued.  Upon  the  proposal  of  Oeder,  a 
cabinet  for  natural  curiosities  was  erected  in  the  palace 
of  Charlottenborg,  more  professors  being  appointed  to 
deliver  lectures  on  the  sciences  of  nature.  Oeder  laid 
the  ground-plot  of  a  botanic  garden,  and  commenced  to 
publish  his  famous  work,  Flora  Danica,  i.  e.,  a  descrip- 
tion of  Danish  herbs.  Frederick's  Hospital,  founded 
during  the  reign  of  Frederick  V.,  was  not  only  a  highly 
beneficial  institution,  but  also  of  great  importance  for 
the  study  of  medicine.     The  fine  arts  were  promoted  by 


386  BISTOHY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

enlarging  the  school  of  painting  and  drawing,  erected  by 
Christian  VI,  and  by  changing  it  to  an  academy  of 
sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture,  in  which  the  im- 
mortal Thonvaldsen,  who  in  sculpture  stands  unrivaled 
among  the  moderns,  afterwards  displayed  his  rare 
talents. 

After  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  Frederick  V.  died  on 
the  14th  of  January,  1766.  Although  not  dis-  a.d, 
playing  any  considerable  degree  of  self-activity,  1766- 
he  entirely  possessed  the  affections  of  his  subjects  by  his 
engaging  affability,  which  in  him  deriving  its  origin 
from  a  native  goodness  of  heart,  was  very  different  from 
that  colored  complaisance,  the  usual  courtly  engine  for 
acquiring  popularity,  and  which,  therefore,  was  the  sub- 
ject of  panegyric  among  his  people,  and  has  continued  to 
be  the  object  of  honorable  mention  by  posterity.  He 
appeared  just,  liberal,  and  humane  ;  and  when  a  war- 
rant for  the  execution  of  a  criminal  was  brought  to  him 
to  be  signed,  his  courtiers  often  saw  him  walking  lonp 
to  and  fro  on  the  floor,  before  affixing  his  royal  signa 
ture,  entertaining  a  continual  doubt  of  his  right  to  take 
human  life. 


HISTORY    OP     SCANDINAVIA.  387 


II. 

1766—1863. 

Christian  VII. — Alterations  among  the  Higher  Officers  of  State — Care  for  the 
Peasantry — The  King's  going  abroad— Struensee  and  Brandt— Ove  Guld- 
berg,  Minister  of  State — The  Queen-dowager,  Juliane  Marie — Prince  Fre- 
derick—Deed of  Exchange  with  Russia— A.  P.  Bemstorff— The  Armed 
Neutrality— The  Finances— The  Press— The  Peasantry— Care  for  the 
Danish  Language  and  Literature— The  Charter  of  Naturalization— Crown 
Prince  Frederick,  afterwards  Frederick  VI— A.  P.  Bernstorff— Henrik 
Stampe — Reventlow — C.  Colbjornson — Hostilities  with  Sweden — Neu- 
trality during  the  French  Revolutionary  War — Independence  of  the  United 
States  acknowledged  by  Denmark — Tripoli — Hostilities  with  England — 
Renewal  of  the  Armed  Neutrality — Horrible  Battle  at  Copenhagen — Co- 
penhagen cruelly  Bombarded,  and  the  Fleet  carried  away — War  with 
Sweden — Peace  of  Jonkoping — Prince  Christian  August,  of  Augustenburg 
— His  Death — War  with  Sweden,  Russia,  and  Prussia — Alliance  with 
France — Fierce  Fight  at  Sehestedt — Peace  of  Kiel — Norway  Lost — Eman- 
cipation of  the  Peasantry  from  Feudal  Bondage — Other  Important  Altera- 
tions in  Different  Branches  of  the  Government — Care  of  the  King  for  Public 
Instruction — University  and  School  Affairs — Literature — Pecuniary  Af- 
fairs— Representative  Council — Christian  VIII — School  Affairs  in  Copen- 
hagen and  in  the  Country — Iceland — The  Danish  East  India  Possessions 
disposed  of — Care  for  the  Danish  Language  in  the  Northern  part  of 
Schleswig — Railroads — Frederick  VII — Horrible  War  with  the  Rebel- 
lious Duchies— Marriage  of  Princess  Alexandra  with  Prince  of  Wales. 

Christian  VII. ,  a  son  of  Frederick  V.  and  his  first 
queen,   Louise,  succeeded  his  father  to  the  throne  of 
both  kingdoms,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  a.  d., 
age.     Soon  after  his   accession,   Christian  VII.    1766 
married   Caroline  Mathilde,  a  sister  of  the  magnani- 
mous king  of  England,  Greorge  III. ;  and  the  engaging 


388  HISTORY     OP     SCANDINAVIA. 

manners  of  this  young  princess,  only  sixteen  years  of 
age  when  married  to  the  king,  won  her  the  favor  of  the 
Danish  king  and  people. 

Shortly  after  Christian  VII.  had  mounted  the  throne 
several  alterations  amongst  the  higher  officers  were 
made.  The  well  deserving  Count  Danneskjold  Samso, 
who,  during  the  reign  of  Christian  VI.,  had  so  gloriously 
managed  the  naval  affairs,  but  under  the  whole  royalty 
of  Frederick  V.  had  been  removed  from  any  share  in  the 
government,  now  regained  the  administration  of  the 
navy,  and  was  again  introduced  into  the  privy  council. 
Prompted  by  Reverdil,  who  was  now  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  cabinet  council,  the  young  king,  by  nature 
possessed  of  uncommon  endowments  of  mind,  took  an 
energetic  care  of  the  peasantry,  which  be  rightly  re- 
garded the  majority  of  the  nation.  A  committee,  in 
which  Reverdil  and  Henrik  Stampe  presided,  was 
appointed  to  propose  improvements  in  the  condition  of 
the  peasants,  who,  in  the  whole  county  of  Copenhagen, 
were  emancipated  from  bond-service,  and  declared 
owners  of  their  farms.  Soon  after,  however,  new  alte- 
rations were  made  at  the  court.  Reverdil  was  dis- 
charged, the  deserving  Danneskjold  Samso  was  sud 
denly,  without  any  fault,  deposed  from  all  his  offices, 
and  banished  from  Copenhagen ;  likewise  St.  Grermain, 
before  mentioned,  who  for  some  years  had  commanded 
the   land   force,  was   dismissed.     After   Reverdil's  dis- 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


389 


charge,  Count  Hoick  exercised  a  detrimental  influence 
upon  the  morality  of  the  young  king,  and  led  him  into 
dissipated  habits. 

A.  d.  ,        Soon  after  the  king  undertook  a  tour  through 

1768.  Europe,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  more  in- 
struction and  experience,  and  bringing  back  to  his  sub- 
jects the  improvements  of  more  refined  nations.  Having 
established  a  regency,  to  direct  the  government  during 
his  absence,  he  departed  from  his  dominions  in  the  train 
of  his  courtiers  and  numerous  attendants.  In  Altona 
the  young  king  contracted  familiarity  with  the  talented 
physician,  John  Frederick  Struensee,  who  was  appointed 
to  accompany  the  king  as  physician  in  ordinary. 

Shortly  before  the  king  left  Denmark,  his  queen,  Caro- 
line Mathilde,  had  on  the  28th  of  January,  1768,  been 
delivered  of  the  crown  prince  Frederick,  afterwards  king 
of  Denmark  and  Norway,  by  the  name  of  Frederick  VI. 

From  Altona  Christian  VII.  went  to  England,  where 
he,  by  his  handsome  appearance,  natural  wit  and  enga- 
ging manners,  won  universal  favor,  the  University  of 
Oxford  even  conferring  upon  him  the  honorary  diploma 
of  doctor  juris.  On  account  of  his  talents  and  insin- 
uating manners,  and  of  his  availing  himself  of  every 
opportunity  to  please  his  royal  master,  Struensee  became 
a  great  favorite  with  the  king,  and  upon  returning  he 
monopolized  the  favor  of  the  king  and  the  queen  to  such 
a  degree,  that  he  was  raised  to  the  office  of  prime  minis- 


390  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

ter,  or  rather,  sole  ruler  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  ex- 
alted to  the  rank  of  a  count,  and  decorated  with  the 
order  of  the  Elephant,  exercising  an  omnipotent  influ- 
ence, and  being  able  to  undertake  a  complete  revolution 
of  the  state  affairs ;  the  easier,  as  the  king  himself,  by- 
dissolute,  licentious  manners,  had  fallen  into  a  temporary 
insanity.  To  accomplish  his  schemes,  Struensee  availed 
himself  of  his  intimate  friend,  Enevold  Brandt,  who 
entertained  the  greatest  familiarity  with  the  king, 
had  likewise  been  exalted  to  the  rank  of  a  count,  and 
decorated  with  the  order  of  the  Elephant,  and  mastered 
Christian  VII.  so  completely  as  to  make  him  comply 
with  his  humor  ;  Struensee  and  Brandt  thus  being  the 
real  rulers  of  the  kingdom,  the  king  himself  only  nomi- 
nally. The  old,  generally-esteemed  Bernstorff,  being  a 
stumbling-block  to  Struensee's  carrying  out  his  plans, 
was  suddenly  removed,  through  the  interference  of  Count 
Ranzau  Ascheberg,  also  striving  for  power  and  influ- 
ence. The  privy  council  was  annulled,  and  its  a.  d.. 
members,  among  whom  was  baron  Thott  and  177°- 
count  A.  Gr.  Moltke,  dismissed ;  a  cabinet  council  being 
erected  instead  of  it ;  which,  however,  signified  nothing, 
Struensee  himself  deciding  all  matters  of  consequence, 
without  any  consultation  either  with  the  king  or  with 
the  royal  colleges,  and  soon  gaining  such  an  a.  d., 
ascendency  as  to  be  authorized  to  pass  com-  1771- 
mands  in  his  own  name  with  the  same  validity  a*  if 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  391 

ihey  were  subscribed  by  the  king  himself.  Jealous  of 
the  unheard-of  power  and  influence  extended  to  Struen- 
see  and  Brandt,  count  Ranzau  Ascheberg  soon  became 
one  of  their  most  mortal  enemies,  and  afterwards  privj 
to  the  horrible  conspiracy,  which  brought  them  to  trial 
as  criminals,  and  to  suffer  a  dreadful  death.  Intoxica- 
ted with  joy  at  the  immense  influence  they  exereised, 
they  did  not  suspect  that  fearful  event  which  was  at 
hand. 

Struensee's    administration    was     vigorous,    and,    in 
many  respects,  very  useful,  many,  alterations  which  he 
made  being  highly  laudable,  while  others  were  of  doubt- 
ful utility,  and  some  altogether  injurious.     One  of  the 
greatest  benefits  which  the  ministry  of  Struensee  effect- 
A.  D.,  ed  was  the  liberty  of  the  press.     Immediately 

1770.  after  he  na(j  assumed  his  power,  a  royal  rescript 
emanated,  giving  every  individual  right  to  express  his 
opinion  on  the  whole  conduct  of  the  government,  with- 
out reserve,  by  word  or  writing  ;  the  press  should  be 
open  to  every  thing,  but  after  publication,  such  writings 
as  offended  in  the  particulars,  should  be  subject  to  the 
penalties  of  the  law ;  thus,  at  length,  that  tie  was  now 
untied,  which  for  two  centuries  had  retarded  the  free 
progress  of  literature  and  science,  and  furnished  unjust 
officers  with  the  most  powerful  impulse  to  every  species 
of  malversation. 

A  better  regulation  of  tW  finances  was  a  main  object 
of  his  attention,   and   to  accomplish  his   plans  in  this 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

respect,  he  employed  the  skillful  Oeder,  and  his  efficient 
brother,  Peter  Struensee,  counselor  of  state.  A  col- 
lege of  finances  was  erected  to  undertake  the  adminis- 
tration of  all  the  revenues  and  expenses  of  both  king 
doms,  which  formerly  had  been  divided  between  different 
colleges ;  a  more  economical  system  was  adopted  and 
a  fixed  sum  of  money  assigned  for  the  expenses  of  the 
royal  court. 

As  to  the  conferring  of  badges  of  honor  and  honorary 
titles,  it  was  resolved  henceforth  to  ascertain  more 
minutely  than  before  the  worthiness  of  the  persons  on 
whom  those  titles  were  to  be  conferred,  and  no  more  to 
allow  servants  of  the  nobility  offices  in  the  kingdoms, 
the  practice  of  which  already  long  had  intruded  upon 
the  patience  of  the  people. 

In  reference  to  the  magistrate  of  Copenhagen,  im- 
portant alterations  took  place,  all  the  members  of  the 
magistracy  being  deposed  and  the  council  of  the  thirty- 
two  men  removed,  after  which  the  whole  administration 
was  regulated  in  a  new  and  better  way. 

Of  great  importance  was  the  erection  of  the  municipal 
•court,  from  which  the  defendant  could  appeal  to  the 
supreme  court,  if  not  content  with  the  sentence  of  the 
municipal  court.  Formerly  the  law-suits  in  Copenha- 
gen had  been  divided  between  many  different  tribunals  ; 
a  great  hindrance  for  quick  and  due  procedure.  It  was 
also  forbidden  by  law  to  put  the  criminals  to  the  raok 
to  compel  them  to  confess  their  crimes. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  393 

Struensee  was  also  highly  desirous  of  improving  the 
condition  of  the  agricultural  classes.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Christian  VII.  something  had  been  done 
for  this  purpose,  but  afterwards  this  important  matter 
had  again  been  dropped,  only  some  few  laws  being 
passed  as  to  improvements  in  agriculture,  while  the 
personal  condition  of  the  peasantry  continued  as  before. 
But,  prompted  by  Struensee,  a  new  committee  was 
appointed,  in  which  Oeder,  uniting  a  deep  insight 
into  agricultural  affairs  with  ardent  love  of  the  peas- 
antry, presided.  Upon  the  recommendation  of  this 
committee  a  law  was  enacted,  that  the  bond-service 
should  be  adjusted  to  their  acres  of  land,  as  also  other 
regulations  favorable  to  the  peasantry.  Besides  that,  it 
was  proposed  by  this  committee,  shortly  before  Struen- 
see's  declension,  to  emancipate  the  peasantry  from  all 
feudal  bondage. 

It  also  conduced  to  the  advancement  of  manufactures 
in  Denmark,  that  the  Moravian  brethren,  distinguished 
for  their  industry,  were  permitted  to  settle  in  Chris- 
tiansfeldt,  in  the  duchy  of  Schleswig. 

Struensee's  attention  was  also  directed  to  the  many 
deficiencies  in  the  regulation  of  the  University,  and  to 
remedy  them  he  called  down  from  Norway  the  learned 
bishop  Gunnerus  of  Trondhjem,  who,  with  deep  inspec- 
tion, elaborated  a  proposal  for  a  reformation  of  the 
University,  which,  however,  at  Struensee's  declension, 
Bhortly  subsequent,  was  laid  aside. 


394:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

But  although  these  excellent  improvements  met  with 
great  approbation  amongst  the  sensible  and  educated 
people,  nevertheless,  he  incurred  their  displeasure  and 
censure  for  having  made  them  too  precipitately,  without 
preparation  and  assurance  for  the  future.  All  eyes 
were  bent  jealously  upon  him,  and  misfortunes  were 
accumulating  fast  upon  his  head.  During  the  continu- 
ance of  Struensee's  useful  designs,  his  friend,  Count 
E  nevoid  Brandt,  a  man  of  weak  intellect,  and  without 
any  vigor  of  mind,  had  plunged  into  the  pleasures  of  the 
court,  and  in  the  midst  of  luxury  and  festivity  indulged 
the  king's  passions,  often  taking  advantage  of  his  famil- 
iarity with  him  to  forget  the  distance  between  himself 
and  his  royal  master,  while  many  looked  jealously  upon 
him,  and  he  stood  over  a  hidden  volcano. 

To  return  to  Struensee ;  several  of  his  institutions 
gave  great  offence  to  the  manners  and  habits  of  his  age ; 
for  instance,  that  he  abrogated  by  law  (26th  of  October, 
1770)  the  following  holy  days:  the  third  Christmas, 
Easter,  and  Pentecost  days,  the  Epiphany,  the  Purifica- 
tion of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  the  Annunciation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  St.  John  Baptist's  day,  and  St.  Michael's 
and  All  Angels,  alleging  that  they  were  only  used  for 
idleness  and  vices,  and  not  for  true  worship ;  that  he 
annulled  all  difference  between  legitimate  and  illegiti- 
mate children,  and  finally  commanded  to  bury  all 
corpses  early  in  the  morning,  aiming  thereby,  it  should 
be  observed,   at  diminishing  that  luxury  and   funeral 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  395 

pomp  which  long  had  taken  place ;  all  of  which  gave 
the  more  offense  as  Struensee  was  a  known  despiser  of 
all  religion  and  a  man  of  immoral  principles. 

He  is  also  blamed  for  having  introduced  the  corrupt- 
ing system  of  raising  money  by  lotteries,  and  there 
soon  appeared  a  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  reign 
of  Struensee,  the  more  as  he  was  a  professed  despiser 
of  the  Danish  language.  The  royal  orders  were  issued 
in  German,  the  royal  colleges  had  to  present  their  pro- 
posals in  Grerman,  and  applications  and  supplications 
from  private  people  had  to  be  written  in  Grerman,  if 
they  might  expect  them  to  be  taken  notice  of. 

Struensee  had  formally  monopolized  the  favor  of  the 
young  queen ;  wheresoever  she  was,  he  accompanied 
her ;  he  approached  her  without  sufficient  respect,  and 
he  was  generally  charged  with  having  denied  the  royal 
bed,  which,  however,  never  was  clearly  proved.  Many 
officers  had  been  despotically  deposed  from  their  offices, 
often  without  any  pension  ;  his  haughtiness  had  given 
great  offense  to  the  Danish  nobles,  and  the  most  influ- 
ential families  of  the  country  had  lost  their  influence. 
During  some  agitations  arising  from  a  few  mariners  and 
workmen,  Struensee  proved  himself  faint-hearted,  which 
inspired  his  enemies  with  courage  to  precipitate  him 
from  his  high  place.  His  friend,  Count  Enevold  Brandt, 
was  charged  with  having  taken  advantage  of  the  king's 
momentary  insanity,  even  so  far  as  to  have  beaten  his 
majesty. 


396  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

A  conspiracy  was  formed  against  them,  the  principal 
leaders  of  which  were  the  king's  stepmother,  the  queen- 
dowager,  Juliane  Marie,  and  her  son,  the  crook-backed 
prince,  Frederick,  both  of  whom,  during  the  ministry 
of  Struensee,  had  been  neglected  and  stripped  of  all 
influence ;  Ove  Guldberg,  private  secretary  with  Prince 
Frederick,  whose  teacher  he  had  been  ;  the  two  counts, 
Ranzau  Ascheberg  and  Osten,  Colonel  Roller,  General 
Eichst'ddt  and  Commissary-General  Beringskjold  ;  who 
all  had  before  enjoyed  the  king's  bounty,  but  by  the 
influence  of  Struensee  and  Brandt  had  lost  it. 

It  was  resolved  to  involve  the  unfortunate  young 
queen,  Caroline  Mathilde,  in  their  fate,  preparations 
being  made  to  strike  a  decisive  blow.  The  plot  was 
laid  with  a  depth  equal  to  the  atrociousness  of  a.  d., 
the  design.  In  the  night,  between  the  16th  and  1772- 
17th  of  January,  the  infernal  scheme  was  carried  out. 
Soldiers  appeared  in  the  streets  and  round  the  royal 
palace  of  Christiansborg,  barricades  were  erected,  popu- 
lar commotions  took  place  in  the  capital,  and  the  cry, 
"  Down  with  the  traitors ! "  resounded  throughout  Co- 
penhagen. Struensee  and  his  friend  E nevoid  Brandt, 
not  at  all  suspecting  the  peril  to  which  they  were  expo- 
sed, were  suddenly  arrested  at  midnight,  by  virtue  of  an 
order  which  had  been  extorted  from  the  imbecile  king. 
While  this  was  passing,  Ranzau  Ascheberg  and  Koller, 
guided  by  numerous  soldiers,  repaired  to  the  royal 
palace,  entered  the  queen's  bed-chamber  and  dragged  her 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  397 

naked  out  of  her  "bed  and  commanded  her  to  follow 
them.  Pleading  her  complete  innocence  and  appealing 
to  her  royal  dignity,  she  cried :  "  I  will  speak  with  the 
king,  my  royal  consort ;  "  but  they  answered :  "  His 
majesty  is  asleep,  we  dare  not  awake  him ; "  after 
which  they  placed  her  by  force  in  a  carriage,  and  sent 
her,  a  prisoner,  to  the  fortress  of  Kronborg,  near  Else- 
nore,  where  she  remained  for  six  weeks.  Dread  of 
British  vengeance  saved  her,  perhaps,  from  personal 
violence.  While  a  prisoner  in  Kronborg,  she  was,  under 
the  pretence  of  having  committed  adultery  with  Stru- 
ensee,  divorced,  by  a  judicial  sentence,  from  the  imbecile 
king,  Christian  VII.,  and  then  permitted  to  retire  to 
Hanover,  where,  from  1772  to  1775,  in  a  small  town 
called  Zelle,  the  remainder  of  her  life  was  spent  in 
comparative  obscurity,  pious  contemplations,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  secret  charity.  She  died  at  the-  age  of 
twenty-four.  Even  when  breathing  her  last  she  assert- 
ed her  innocence  of  the  crime  with  which  she  had  been 
charged,  declaring  solemnly  that  she  had  been  sacrificed 
by  a  base  plot. 

"When  she  was  carried  away  by  force  from  Copen- 
hagen, her  little  son,  the  crown-prince  Frederick,  after- 
wards king  by  the  name  of  Frederick  VI.,  was  only 
four  years  of  age.  She  saw  him  no  more.  She  is 
buried  in  a  plain  vault  in  the  church  of  Zelle,  with  tho 
laconic  inscription  on  her  coffin :  u  Carolina  Mathilda, 
Regina  D anise  et  Norvegise." 


398  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

While  this  was  passing  with  the  young  queen,  Stru- 
ensee  and  Brandt  were  sitting  in  their  prisons,  wrapped 
in  gloomy  thoughts  and  awaiting  their  horrible  sentence 
of  death,  at  the  circumstances  of  which  abominable 
tragedy  we  cannnot  but  shudder.  They  were  insulted 
with  the  mockery  of  a  trial,  and  their  sentence  was : 
"  Struensee  and  Brandt  have  forfeited  honor,  life,  and 
property;  their  right  hands  shall  first  be  stricken  off, 
then  their  heads ;  their  bodies  be  divided  into  four  parta 
and  exposed  on  the  wheel  to  public  view ; "  to  which 
cruel  sentence  the  deranged  king  was  easily  brought  to 
affix  his  signature. 

Dr.  Hee,  minister  of  the  church  of  the  mariners,  and 
Dr.  Miinter,  minister  of  the  German  church,  and  father 
of  the  learned  bishop  of  Copenhagen,  Dr.  Frederick 
Miinter,  were  commanded  to  prepare  the  victims  a.  d., 
for  death.  On  the  28th  of  April,  the  cruel  1772- 
sentence  was  literally  carried  into  effect.  Struensee, 
whose  religious  views  had  taken  a  happy  change  under 
his  imprisonment,  when  ascending  the  scaffold,  cried 
out :  "  The  power  of  the  blood  of  Christ  speaks  comfort 
to  me." 

This  horrible  scene  excited  horror  and  detestation  in 
all  the  courts  of  Europe,  calling  it  the  Danish  judiciary 
murder.  The  hard-hearted  queen-dowager,  Juliane 
Marie,  who  was  seen  looking  from  a  window  of  her 
palace  upon  the  dreadful  spectacle,  now  usurped  the 
royal  authority  for  a  long  time,  after  having  removed 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  399 

her  rivals,  and  the  young  and  talented  nobleman,  named 
Bernstorff,  a  nephew  of  the  before  mentioned  count, 
was  appointed  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  which  he 
conducted  with  excellent  discretion. 

Struensee  thus  removed,  the  former  principles  of 
government  were  introduced,  the  privy  council  was  re- 
established by  the  name  of  council  of  state,  the  royal 
colleges  were  replaced  on  their  old  footing,  most  of 
Struensee's  institutions  being  abrogated,  the  good  as 
well  as  the  bad,  and  nearly  all  the  men  whom  he  had 
employed  in  carrying  out  his  reforms,  deposed  and 
removed,  although  many  of  them  were  highly  efficient 
and  deserving  officers. 

Besides  the  queen-dowager,  Juliane  Marie,  baron  Otto 
Thott,  Schack  Rathlau,  and  count  Schimmelmann, 
exercised  until  1784  the  most  important  influence  upon 
the  government;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Ranzau 
Ascheberg,  and  several  others  of  the  most  efficient 
coadjutors  in  removing  Struensee,  were  soon  dismissed. 
Only  Ove  Guldberg  was  gradually  raised  to  greater  and 
greater  dignity  and  influence,  his  authority  becoming  so 
considerable  that  this  whole  period  has  been  called  the 
period  of  Guldberg.  Andrew  Peter  Bernstorff,  a  nephew 
of  the  elder  BernstorfT,  skillfully  administered,  (1773- 
1780,)  as  above  mentioned,  the  foreign  affairs,  but 
afterwards  laid  down  his  office,  not  approving  of  the 
principles  which  G-uldberg  followed.  But  the  adminis- 
tration of  BernstorfT  is  remarkable  for  the  fact  that  the 


400  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

treaty  which  his  uncle,  in  1767,  had  concluded  with 
Russia,  concerning  the  exchange  of  the  ducai  part  of 
Holstein  for  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst,  was  a.d., 
now  accomplished,  the  crown  prince  of  Russia,  1773- 
Paul  Petrowitch,  now  passing  his  minority.  Denmark 
hereby  coming  into  an  undivided  possession  of  Holstein, 
the  motives  for  future  disputes  with  Russia  were 
removed;  the  more  so,  as  the  house  of  Holstein-Kiel 
renounced  its  claims  to  the  duchy  of  Schleswig.  The 
counties,  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorst,  were,  by  Paul 
Petrowitch,  resigned  to  the  young  Frederick  August,  a 
prince  of  the  younger  line  of  the  house  of  Kiel,  and  on 
this  occasion  elevated  to  a  grand  duchy,  by  the  title  of 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Oldenburg. 

Six  years  after,  also,  the  Grliicksburg  posses-   a.  d., 
sions,  at  the  death  of  the  last  duke,  by  inheri-    1779- 
tance  devolved  to  the  Danish  crown  ;  all  the  small  par- 
cels which  by  earlier  divisions  had  been  separated  from 
the  crown  were  reunited  to  it,  except  the  possessions  of 
the  duke  of  Augustenburg. 

In  1775,  twelve  years  from  the  peace  of  Paris,  by 
which  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  Cape  Breton,  and  all  othei 
islands  in  the  gulf  and  river  St.  Lawrence  were  ceded 
to  the  British  crown,  the  American  revolutionary  war 
began,  which,  by  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  the  noble 
Greorge  "Washington,  and  many  other  patriots,  termi- 
nated in  the  final  separation  of  the  United  States  from 
the  British  empire.     Several  of  the  European  maritime 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  401 

powers  sharing  in  this  memorable  war,  the  Danish  and 
Northern  commerce  was  highly  molested  by  the  priva- 
teers of  the  belligerent  powers,  France,  Spain,  and 
especially  England.  To  remedy  this  evil,  A.  P.  Bern- 
storff  labored  energetically  for  effecting  an  alliance 
between  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Russia,  to  protect  the 
neutra.  commerce.  His  endeavors  met,  for  a  while, 
A.  D.,  with  difficulties,  but  at  length  a  treaty  was  con- 
1780.  eluded^  called  the  Act  of  the  Armed  Neutrality, 
by  which  these  three  maritime  powers  jointly  engaged 
themselves  in  maintaining  the  axiom,  that  a  free  ship 
makes  free  cargo,  or  that  all  merchandise,  when  not 
contraband,  freely  and  without  any  control,  could  be 
carried  on  neutral  vessels,  to  and  from  the  countries  of 
the  belligerent  powers.  This  alliance,  entered  upon  by 
several  states,  exercised  a  highly  beneficial  influence 
upon  the  Danish  commerce,  England  now  altering  her 
policy  in  this  respect,  and  France  and  Spain  acknow- 
ledging the  principles  of  the  armed  neutrality.  Espe- 
cially the  lines  of  transportation  in  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  West  Indies  were  very  flourishing,  which  latter 
was  carried  on  to  a  great  extent,  and  with  considerable 
profit.  For  the  advancement  of  the  commerce,  a  chan- 
nel was  formed  between  the  bay  of  Kiel  and  the  Eider 
river,  a  conjunction  being  thereby  effected  between  the 
Baltic  and  the  North  Sea.  But,  nevertheless,  finan- 
cial affairs  grew  still  worse  during  this  period.  In  the 
first  years  several  considerable  expenses  occurred,  which 


402  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

increased  the  debt,  but  even  in  the  following  years  the 
debt  was  continually  increasing,  notwithstanding  the 
sources  of  wealth  were  pouring  in  abundantly.  In  the 
year  1784  the  debt,  which  from  1766-1772  had  been 
reduced  to  sixteen  millions,  amounted  to  twenty-nine 
millions  of  rix-dollars.  The  government  tried  to  remedy 
the  scarcity  of  money  by  redeeming  the  private  bank, 
which,  during  the  reign  of  Christian  VI.,  had  been  esta- 
blished, and  changing  it  to  a  royal  bank.*  This  altera- 
tion, though  undertaken  diametrically  opposite  to  the 
charter  of  the  bank,  and  detrimental  to  the  shareholders, 
made  it  possible  for  the  government,  when  want  of 
money  might  happen,  to  issue  out  bills  without  having 
a  corresponding  value  of  silver ;  which  expedient,  in  the 
following  time,  was  used  to  such  an  extent  as  to  ruin 
altogether  the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  country. 

The  period  of  Guldberg  is  distinguished  by  a  great 
care  for  the  Danish  literature.  Guldberg  himself  was 
a  man  of  extensive  learning,  and  an  active  promoter  of 
scientific  undertakings.  The  Danish  language,  which 
long  had  been  neglected,  and  during  the  ministry  of 
Struensee  entirely  trampled  under  foot,  regained  esteem. 
In  the  army  the  Grerman  drill  words  were  exchanged 
for  Danish ;  at  the  court  the  Danish  language  was 
spoken ;  the  Latin  schools  were  reorganized,  on  which 
occasion  the  mother  tongue  and  history  of  Denmark 
were  introduced  as  the  objects  of  instruction.  Also,  the 
University  was   reformed,   though  not  to  that  extent 


HISTORY   OF     SCANDINAVIA.  4-03 

which  bishop  Grunnerus,  during  the  ministry  of  Struen* 
see,  had  in  view.  The  charter  of  naturalization,  issued 
during  the  period  of  Gruldberg,  bears  a  strong  witness 
to  the  patriotic  mind  of  the  government.  By  this  law, 
which  the  king  enjoined  his  successors  to  regard  as  an 
unalterable  radical  law,  it  was  determined,  that  only 
Danes,  Norwegians  and  Holsteiners  should  have  access 
to  the  offices  of  the  state  ;  such  men,  however,  excepted, 
as  by  rare  talents,  uncommon  knowledge,  or  great 
wealth,  might  be  of  great  service  to  the  kingdoms. 
Notwithstanding  science  and  the  arts  being  protected 
and  promoted,  the  government,  nevertheless,  during  the 
ministry  of  Gruldberg,  was  very  disaffected  toward  the 
liberty  of  the  press.  That  liberty  which,  under  Struen- 
see,  had  been  given  to  every  individual  to  express  his 
opinions  without  reserve,  by  word  or  writing,  ceased 
A.  d.,  unfortunately  again  altogether.  A  law  was  now 
1773-  enacted,  forbidding  to  insert  in  the  newspapers 
or  periodicals  anything  concerning  the  government  and 
public  institutions,  the  mayor  of  Copenhagen  being  en- 
titled to  punish  the  violators  of  this  law,  either  by  fine 
or  imprisonment,  without  allowing  any  appeal  to  the 
tribunals.  Also,  against  larger  works,  a  high  degree  of 
arbitrary  power  was  exercised,  the  government  encroach- 
ing upon  them,  either  through  immediate  orders  from 
the  cabinet  council,  or  in  other  ways  preventing  them 
from  being  published. 

Id  reference  to  the  peasantry,  also,  during  the  ministry 


404  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

if  Guldberg,  principles  were  established  diametrically 
opposite  to  those  of  the  former  government.  Guldberg 
himself  was  fully  convinced,  that  the  yoke  of  the  pea- 
santry could  not  be  taken  off  without  entirely  subverting 
the  state.  The  committee  which,  under  Struensee,  had 
been  appointed  to  propose  improvements  in  the  condition 
of  the  peasantry,  was  dissolved,  professor  Oeder,  its 
most  active  and  skillful  member,  being  discharged,  with 
the  notification,  that  he  had  forfeited  the  king's  favor. 
The  law  concerning  the  bond-service,  so  favorable  to  the 
peasants,  which  had  been  enacted  during  the  ministry 
of  Struensee,  was  annulled,  the  bond-service  again  being 
made  indefinite,  and  replaced  on  its  old  despotic  footing. 
The  pressure  on  the  peasantry  also  grew  still  worse  by 
the  erection  of  many  new  manors,  which  came  up  by 
continually  disposing  of  the  crown  estates.  Neverthe- 
less, after  count  Joachim  Gotshe  Moltke  had  been 
appointed  president  of  the  exchequer,  a  law  for  the 
abrogation  of  the  community  of  ground  was  enacted, 
highly  important  and  beneficial  for  the  agricultural 
classes. 

The  revolutionary  war  in  America,  of  seven  years' 
duration,  had  been  waged  vigorously,  and  successfully 
in  its  results  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  Misfortunes 
seemed  to  attend  almost  every  scheme  undertaken  by 
England  for  coercing  the  Americans  into  obedience. 
The  great  continental  powers,  jealous  of  the  maritime 
and  commercial  prosperity  of  England,  and  dissatisfied 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  405 

with  her  policy,  ardently  desired  her  humiliation,  ami 
rejoiced  heartily  at  every  misfortune  that  befel  her,  and 
the  northern  kingdoms  shared  in  the  universal  joy,  and 
mentioned  Washington's  name  with  respect  and  admira- 
tion; and  when  the  proclamation  of  the  cessation  of 
hostilities  was  made  to  the  army,  on  the  19th  of  April, 
1783,  Sweden  had  already,  by  virtue  of  the  articles  of 
peace,  signed  on  the  30th  of  November,  1782,  acknow 
ledged,  5th  of  February,  1783,  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  ;  whereupon  Christian  VII. ,  on  the  25th 
of  February,  1783,  for  Denmark  and  Norway,  subscri- 
bed to  the  independence  of  this  great  Union.  Already, 
the  year  before,  Holland  had,  19th  of  April,  1782,  ac- 
knowledged said  independence.  The  expenditure  of  blood 
and  money  which  this  war  had  cost  England  was  enor- 
mous. Of  course,  also,  the  United  States  had  suffered 
during  the  war ;  the  trade  and  the  commerce  of  the 
country  were  almost  destroyed,  and  agriculture  was 
greatly  interrupted  and  depressed,  and  the  great  Union 
was  burdened  with  an  immense  debt,  from  which  they, 
however,  soon  recovered,  by  maintaining  a  strict  neu- 
trality, and  engaging  themselves  in  an  extensive  and 
profitable  carrying  trade. 

Crown-prince  Frederick,  son  of   Christian  VII.  and 
the   unfortunate    queen    Caroline    Mathilde,    had   now 

A.  D.,   grown  up  and  been  confirmed  by  the  court  chap. 

:784-   lain,  Dr.  Bastholm,  whereupon  he  conducted  the 
reign ;   his  father,    Christian   VII.,    being  so   mentally 


406  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

deranged  as  not  to  be  able  to  rule  the  kingdoms.  A 
few  days  after  his  confirmation,  the  crown-prince 
removed  Ove  Gruldberg,  whose  ministry  ceased  pursuant 
to  an  order  in  writing,  signed  by  the  imbecile  king  and 
the  crown-prince,  who  now  created  a  new  ministry  of 
state,  into  which  were  admitted  the  great  and  liberal 
jurisconsult,  Henry  Stampe,  and  the  celebrated  diplo- 
mate,  Andreas  Peter  Bernstorff,  who,  after  an  absence 
of  four  years,  returned  to  Denmark  to  conduct  again 
the  foreign  affairs. 

The  peaceable  terms  on  which  Denmark  was  with 
Sweden,  were  for  a  little  while    interrupted,  Sweden 
having  attacked  Russia,  which  Denmark,  according  to 
an  earlier  alliance,  had  to  assist.     Consequently   a.  d., 
a  Danish  army  made  from  Norway  an  inroad    178a 
into  Sweden,  and,  commanded  by  crown-prince  Frede- 
rick,  advanced    briskly  into  the    Swedish  frontier-pro- 
vinces, which  were  unable  to  make  any  resistance,  the 
Swedish  troops  having  pitched  their  camp  in  Finland, 
in  order  to  attack  the  Russians.    A  victory  was  obtained 
over  the  Swedes  at  Qvistrum  Bridge,  by  the  Danes,  who 
advanced  upon  Gothenburg;  but  England  interfering, 
and  threatening  Denmark  with  war,  the  hostilities  soon 
ceased.     This  short  campaign,  however,  had  cost  Den- 
mark  the   considerable  sum  of  seven  millions  of  rix 
dollars.     Shortly   after,   the   unfortunate    Louis  Jan  21 
XVI.  of  France  was  guillotined  in  Paris,  and  the   A.  D., 
democratic  spirit,  which  had  called  forth  the  revo-    1793- 


407 

HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 


iutionary  war  of  America,  was  borne  back  to  France  b) 
her  chivalrous  sons,  who,  in  aiding  the  oppressed  Ame- 
ricans, had  imbibed  their  principles.  The  ancient  con- 
stitution of  France  was  overthrown,  and  the  French 
Revolution  was  hurried  forward,  involving  most  Euro- 
pean powers  in  a  sanguinary  war.  But  Denmark, 
through  A.  P.  BernstorfF's  wise  diplomacy,  being  happy 
enough  to  maintain  an  unshaken  neutrality,  abundantly 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  peace,  carrying  on  the  most 
nourishing  commerce.  The  East  India  and  China  trade 
was  so  profitable,  that  for  many  years  merchandise  was 
yearly  brought  to  Copenhagen,  to  the  amount  of  five 
millions  of  rix-dollars  ;  and  the  carrying  trade  in  the 
Mediterranean,  together  with  the  North  American  and 
West  Indian  commerce,  was  likewise  pursued  with  great 
profit.  The  trade,  however,  in  the  Mediterranean,  was 
for  a  long  time  greatly  molested  by  the  Dey  of  Tripoli 
violently  outraging  the  Danish  merchantmen.  But,  not- 
withstanding peace  having  long  reigned,  the  Danes  had 
not  degenerated  from  the  ancient  Northern  bravery. 
The  undaunted  Admiral,  Steen  Bille,  gained  a  complete 
A.D.,  victory  over  a  superior  Tripolitan  fleet,  and  com- 
1797.  pelled  the  Dey  to  pay  respect  to  the  Danish  flag, 
thus  securing  to  the  Danish  trade  in  the  Mediterranean 
due  freedom  and  progress.  The  victory  gained,  the 
Dey  presented  Steen  Bille,  to  show  him  his  esteem,  with 
a  costly  sabre. 

But,  in  the  course  of  the  French  revolutionary  war, 


408 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


Denmark  had  a  difficult  game  to  play,  frequent  col- 
lisions occurring  with  the  belligerent  powers,  especially 
with  England,  who  despotically  treated  the  neutral 
merchantmen.  England  now  extending  the  list  of  con- 
traband goods,  by  which  before  only  munitions  of  war 
were  meant,  to  meal,  grain,  and  other  bread-stuffs,  and 
claiming  the  right  of  searching  neutral  ships  for  contra- 
band articles,  and  of  seizing  vessels  not  laden  with 
exceptionable  cargoes,  attempted  to  forbid  Denmark  to 
enjoy  free  navigation  from  one  port  to  another,  and  to 
bring  meal  and  grain,  her  most  important  articles  of 
exportation,  to  France  or  other  countries,  which  were 
waging  war  with  England.  Nevertheless,  the  wise 
Bernstorff  succeeded  in  getting  it  determined,  that  all 
effects  conveyed  by  Danish  merchantmen,  excepting 
only  warlike  stores,  should  be  free,  and  in  maintaining 
the  peace  and  dignity  of  Denmark  and  Norway,  a.  d., 
But,  unfortunately,  Bernstorff  died  amidst  these  1793- 
critical  circumstances. 

To  protect  the  merchantmen  against  future  outrage, 
Denmark  now  commenced  to  convoy  them  by  ships  of 
war;  but  England  stubbornly  claimed  the  right  of 
searching  even  such  merchantmen  as  were  convoyed. 
Mutual  recriminations  were,  therefore,  almost  constantly 
passing  between  the  Danish  and  the  English  govern 
Tients,  the  former  complaining,  that  great  numbers  of 
Danish  vessels,  not  laden  with  contraband  goods,  had 
been  seized  and  carried  into  the  ports  of  England ;  the 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


409 


latter  accusing  the  former  of  supplying  the  enemies  of 
A.  d.,  England  with  naval  and  military  stores.  A 
I800.  slight  collision  in  the  English  Channel,  between 
Freia,  a  Danish  man-of-war,  and  a  superior  English 
vessel,  which,  after  a  brave  resistance,  at  last  captured 
her,  together  with  the  merchantmen  sailing  under  her 
convoy,  increased  the  hostile  feelings  of  the  two  nations ; 
a  war  being  about  to  break  out,  when  fortunately  a 
Convention  was  concluded,  pursuant  to  which  England 
returned  the  captured  vessels,  and  Denmark  promised 
not  to  convoy  her  merchantmen  by  ships  of  war  until 
the  matter  in  question  was  settled. 

In  the  meantime,  Napoleon,  since  the  10th  of  No- 
vember, 1799,  seated  on  the  consular  throne  of  France, 
was  successfully  planning  a  union  of  the  northern 
A.D.,  powers  against  England,  and  on  the  16th  of 
1800.  December,  a  Maritime  Confederacy  was  signed 
by  Russia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  soon  after  by  Prussia, 
on  principles  similar  to  the  Armed  Neutrality  of  1780, 
and  its  effect  would  have  been,  if  fully  carried  out,  to 
deprive  England  of  her  naval  superiority.  Denmark 
having  lately  concluded  a  convention  with  England,  was 
not  inclined  to  accede  to  this  new  confederacy,  but  gave 
way,  however,  to  the  wish  of  the  Russian  emperor, 
Paul,  who  was  highly  exasperated  at  England;  the 
Danish  government  now  ordering  her  armed  vessels  to 
resist  the  search  of  the  British  cruisers,  and  the  Russian 
emperor  issuing  an  embargo  on  all  the  British  ships  in 
his  harbors. 


410  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Still,  England  maintained  her  superiority  at  sea,  and, 
determined  to  anticipate  her  enemies,  despatched,  as 
soon  as  possible,  a  powerful  fleet  to  the  Baltic,  a.  d., 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Hyde  Parker  and  1801- 
Nelson.  Passing  through  the  sound  at  Elsenore  under 
a  tremendous  fire  from  the  Danish  batteries,  on  the 
30th  of  March,  the  English  fleet,  numbering  fifty-one 
men-of-war,  came  to  anchor  opposite  the  harbor  of 
Copenhagen,  which  was  protected  by  an  imposing  array 
of  forts  and  floating  batteries ;  but  the  Danish  men-of- 
war  were  old  and  almost  unmanageable,  commanded  by 
admiral   Olfert  Fisher. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  Charles  Gr.  Sommers,  a 
Baptist  minister  in  the  city  of  New- York,  still  living, 
was  in  Copenhagen  on  the  eventful  day  of  the  2d  of 
April,  1801.  I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  the  following 
graphic  words  from  the  "  American  Pulpit,"  published 
by  Henry  Fowler,  Professor  of  the  University  of  Ro- 
chester, N.  Y. : 

"Within  two  miles  from  Copenhagen  the  British 
fleet  came  to  anchor,  in  the  evening  of  the  first  of  April. 
Here  these  mighty  battle-ships  lay  all  night,  in  a  fore- 
boding silence,  broken  only  by  the  dash  of  waves  against 
their  huge  black  sides,  or  by  sound  of  revelry,  and 
low  murmur  of  preparation,  which  ever  and  anon 
issued  from  the  open  port-holes.  In  the  British  fleet  it 
was  a  night  of  wild  joy  and  hope,  and  glorious  antici- 
pation of  the  morrow's  victory,  with  the  thrilling  excite* 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


411 


ment  which  nerves  the  arm  and  steels  the  heart  of 
soldier  and  seaman  in  the  prospect  of  desolating  contest 
But  the  gloom  of  night,  which  settled  over  the  doomed 
city  of  Copenhagen,  was  hut  a  faint  image  of  the  fore* 
codings  shutting  down  so  darkly  on  the  hearts  of  all  its 
desperate  defenders.  Ahout  ten  o'clock  on  the  A  ril  2 
following  morning  (Good  Friday),  Lord  Nelson's  A.D., 
ships  had  taken  their  allotted  places,  and  at  the  1801 
signal  opened  their  tremendous  fire  on  the  Danish 
armament.  It  was  returned  by  the  shot  of  one 
thousand  guns,  which  spoke  in  terms  not  to  be  misun- 
derstood, of  the  desperate  bravery  with  which  the  Danes 
would  defend  their  native  land,  and  of  the  terrible 
destruction  through  which  the  British  flag  must  pass, 
ere  it  waved  in  triumph  over  the  citadel  of  Copen- 
hagen. For  more  than  five  hours  did  these  two  mighty 
combatants,  the  flower  of  the  English  navy,  and  the 
concentrated  strength  of  Denmark,  wage  upon  each 
other  a  warfare  of  magnificent  bravery,  but  of  awful 
carnage.  It  was  one  of  the  hardest  fought  battles  that 
humanity  ever  has  been  called  to  mourn  over.  Young 
Sommers  was  witness  of  it  all,  in  its  terribleness,  its 
havoc,  and  its  magnificence.  When  Nelson  came  on 
shore,  Sommers  had  a  good  sight  of  him.  Villemoes, 
too,  he  often  saw,  and  describes  him  as  of  a  very  modest 
and  retiring  appearance,  of  whom  the  following  is  told 
A  Danish  youth  of  seventeen,  named  Villemoes,  par- 
ticularly distinguished  himself  on  this  memorable  day 


412  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

Be  had  volunteered  to  take  the  command  of  a  floating 
battery,  which  was  a  raft,  consisting  merely  of  a  num- 
ber of  beams  nailed  together,  with  a  flooring  to  support 
the  guns;  it  was  square,  with  a  breastwork  full  of 
port-holes,  and  without  masts,  carrying  twenty-four 
guns  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  men.  With  this  ho 
got  under  the  stern  of  the  Elephant,  below  the  reach  of 
the  stern-chasers,  and,  under  a  heavy  fire  of  small  arms 
from  the  marines,  fought  his  raft  till  the  truce  was 
announced,  with  such  skill  and  bravery  as  to  excite 
Nelson's  warmest  admiration.  Nelson  requested  of  the 
crown-prince  of  Denmark,  that  Villemoes  might  be 
introduced  to  him  ;  and  shaking  hands  with  this  young 
northern  hero,  told  the  prince,  that  Villemoes  ought  to 
be  made  an  admiral.  The  prince  replied :  l  If,  my 
Lord,  I  am  to  make  all  my  brave  officers  admirals,  1 
should  have  no  captains  or  lieutenants  in  my  service.' " 

After  a  continued  fight  of  five  hours  the  Danish  fleet 
was  almost  altogether  destroyed,  but  Nelson  had  under- 
gone so  great  a  loss  as  not  to  be  able  to  continue  the 
battle,  his  largest  men-of-war  being  in  a  dangerous 
situation.  The  formidable  fire  from  the  Danish  batte- 
ries being  silenced,  Nelson  sent  a  white  flag  ashore,  and 
negotiations  were  transacted.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  to 
be  denied,  that  the  victory  in  this  horrible  engagement 
rested  with  the  English,  but  the  Danes  had  fought 
with  such  courage  and  obstinacy  as  to  procure  thom 
everlasting  honor,  to  which  Nelson's  words  to  the  crowu 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


413 


prince  bear  witness :  "  Your  royal  highness !  I  have 
been  in  one  hundred  and  five  engagements,  but  tnat  ot 
Copenhagen  was  the  most  terrible  of  them  all."  >8ix 
thousand  of  Denmark's  bravest  sons  were  taken  from 
her ;  the  English  loss  was  two  thousand  two  hundred 
men,  but  many*  of  their  men-of-war  had  blown  up. 
Against  each  other  were  arrayed  men  who  knew  no 
inspiration  equal  to  that  of  their  country's  call,  and 
paid  no  heed  to  personal  safety,  when  her  safety  was 
endangered. 

Nelson,  a  man  of  refinement  of  manners,  humanity, 
and  with  studied  courtesies  of  polished  life,  was,  after 
the  battle,  cordially  received  in  Copenhagen ;  and  as  an 
instance  of  his  courtesy,  it  is  related,  that  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  battle,  when  the  work  of  carnage  and 
destruction  was  the  hottest  around  him,  and  he  judged 
it  expedient  to  propose  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  a  wafer 
being  brought  to  him  to  seal  his  communication  to  the 
Danish  authorities,  he  rejected  it,  directing  the  wax  and 
a  taper  to  be  brought,  saying:  "  What!  shall  I  send  my 
own  spittle  to  the  crown-prince?" 

An  armistice  was  now  concluded  for  fourteen  weeks, 
during  which  time  Denmark  abdicated  active  participa- 
tion in  the  Armed  Neutrality.     This  armistice  soon  led 
June  24  *°  a  complete  peace,  when  the  Russian  emperor, 
A.  D.,   Paul,  the  founder  and  head  of  the  Northern  Con- 
180L    federacy,  who  had  provoked  the  indignation  of 
the  nobles  and  the  people,  was  murdered  by  a  party  of 


414:  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

conspirators,  who  placed  upon  the  throne  his  son, 
Alexander  L,  who  immediately  resolved  to  abandon  the 
armed  neutrality,  and  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of 
Great  Britain.  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Prussia  followed 
his  example,  and  thus  was  dissolved  the  League  of  the 
North,  the  most  formidable  confederacy  ever  arrayed 
against  the  maritime  power  of  England. 

Denmark  soon  retrieved  the  consequences  of  this  war, 
and  her  commerce  continued  to  flourish  as  before ;  but 
the  incessant  wars  in  the  north  of  Germany  occasioned 
immense  expenses,  Denmark  deeming  it  necessary  to 
keep  her  army  in  Holstein  to  protect  the  frontiers. 
Meanwhile  Napoleon  had  rapidly  extended  his  suprem- 
acy over  tho  continent  of  Europe,  and  when  the  a.  d., 
German  empire  was  dissolved,  and  fourteen  1806- 
princes  of  the  south  and  west  of  Germany  were  induced 
to  form  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  and  place  them- 
selves under  the  protection  of  France,  that  feudal 
obligation  in  which  Holstein  had  been  to  the  German 
emperor  ceased,  and  Holstein  was  now  incorporated  as 
an  inseparable  part  of  the  Danish  monarchy. 

Denmark  having  hitherto  sought,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
keep  out  of  the  terrible  war  in  which  the  French  Revo- 
lution had  involved  most  of  the  other  states  of  Europe, 
was  suddenly  thrown  into  the  middle  of  the  great 
movements,  which  then  shook  Europe;  and  the  blessed 
oeace  which  Denmark,  except  a  few  short  interrup- 
tions, had  enjoved  since  the  ypar  1720,  was  now  ex- 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  415 

changed  for  a  seven  years'  war  of  the  most  lamentable 
consequences. 

It  was  generally  believed  that  Napoleon  intended  to 
blockade  all  the  harbors  of  the  continent  against  Great 
Britain,  and  that  he  would  compel  Denmark  to  give  up 
her  neutrality,  and  probably  avail  himself  of  the  Danish 
navy  to  execute  his  old  project  of  an  invasion.  To  prevent 
such  an  enterprise  England  sent,  without  any  previous 
declaration  of  war,  a  powerful  armament  against  Den- 
mark, under  the  command  of  admiral  Gambler  and 
general  Cathcart.  An  imperious  demand  for  the  in- 
stant surrender  of  the  Danish  fleet  and  naval  stores,  to 
be  retained  as  a  deposit  by  the  English  until  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war,  being  peremptorily  rejected,  the 
Danes  were  briskly  attacked  by  land  and  sea;  but  as 
their  army  was  in  Holstein  to  protect  the  frontiers,  and 
was  prevented  by  English  men-of-war,  cruising  round 
in  the  Belts,  from  coming  to  the  assistance  of  the 
oapital,  they  could  only  make  a  very  weak  resistance. 
Be  t  2-5  After  Copenhagen  had  been  furiously  bom- 
A.  D.,  barded  for  three  days,  general  Peymann  was 
constrained  to  submit  to  the  demands  of  the 
British,  and  the  Danish  fleet  was,  six  weeks  after, 
removed,  while  the  indignant  people  could  scarcely  be 
prevented  from  avenging  the  national  insult,  even  by 
the  presence  of  a  superior  force.  A  militia,  consisting 
principally  of  men  who  had  never  stood  under  fire, 
commanded  by  general  Castenskjold,  tried  at  Kj6ge< 


416  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

four  Danish  miles  from  Copenhagen,  to  make  head 
against  the  British  troops,  but  were  immediately  routed. 
The  enemy  carried  away  thirty-three  men-of-war  and 
several  frigates,  besides  a  great  store  of  ammunition. 

Here  I  may  quote  the  following  graphic  account  from 
the  American  Pulpit :  "It  was  six  years  after  the 
horrible  battle  of  1801,  that  a  British  fleet  suddenly 
appeared  off  Elsenore,  the  toll-gate  city  of  Denmark. 
It  amounted  to  nearly  a  score  of  line  ships,  a  large 
number  of  frigates  and  gun-boats,  with  transports  car- 
rying some  twenty  thousand  men.  As  they  swept  into 
the  straits  under  a  light  wind,  with  all  sails  spread, 
flags,  pennants,  and  streamers  flying  from  mastheads, 
bows,  and  sterns,  every  yard  throughout  the  whole  fleet 
manned  with  seamen,  Mr.  Sommers  describes  it  a  mag- 
nificent sight.  And  when  the  bands  of  eleven  regiments 
struck  up  the  national  air  :  '  Rule,  Britannia,  Britannia 
rule  the  "Waves,'  the  effect  was  thrilling.  With  his 
usual  enterprise  in  search  of  incident  or  information, 
Sommers  jumped  into  a  skiff  with  a  companion,  and 
pulled  off  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  a  ninety-eight  gun 
ship.  Going  on  board,  he  was  most  kindly  received, 
and  invited  below  to  a  repast  with  the  officers.  He 
frankly  inquired  where  they  were  going  with  such  a 
fleet.  An  officer  replied :  "  We  do  not  know ;  sealed 
orders  have  been  given  us,  which  will  be  opened  this 
afternoon ;  and  we  hope  it  is  not  to  Copenhagen." 
But  alas,  it  was.     That   afternoon   the  fleet  weighed 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  41  7 

anchor  for  that  unfortunate  capital,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing the  booming  of  cannon  was  heard  at  Elsenore, 
twenty-four  English  miles  distant,  and  Copenhagen 
was  bombarded. 

14  This  attack  was  made  under  the  command  of  Lord 
(xambier.  It  was  done  for  the  purpose  of  getting  pos- 
session of  the  Danish  fleet,  which  lay  dismantled  in  its 
harbor.  This  fleet  the  English  government  was  inform- 
ed by  their  active  minister  abroad,  Jackson,  was  to 
come  into  possession  of  the  French,  which  John  Bull 
could  not,  and  would  not  allow.  The  fleet  was  captured ; 
English  sailors  swarmed  on  board  of  the  stripped  vessels, 
rigged  them,  fitted  them  for  sea,  and  the  two  fleets 
passed  over  to  England.  In  this  engagement,  the 
enthusiasm  of  young  Sommers  would  not  allow  him 
merely  to  sit  quietly  on  the  end  of  a  ship-crane,  but  he 
must  assist  in  the  defence  of  Denmark,  his  adopted 
country.  So  he  joined  the  company  which  manned 
the  old  fort  of  Kronborg,  the  guns  of  which  swept 
the  straits,  and  there  played  away  at  the  ships  as  they 
passed." 

This  act  of  violence  against  Denmark,  called  so  by 
the  whole  of  Europe,  furnished  the  Russian  emperor 
with  a  pretext  for  breaking  off  his  connection  with 
Great  Britain.  He  complained,  in  strong  language,  of 
the  disregard  which  England  had  ever  shown  for  the 
rights  of  neutral  powers,  and  the  unscrupulous  use  that 
had  been  made  of  her  naval  supremacy,  and  many  of 


418  HTSTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

the  maritime  states  seconded  his  remonstrances.     Den- 
mark, though  deprived  of  her  navy,  resented  the  blow 
inflicted  on  her  by  England,  by  throwing  herself  without 
reserve  into  the  arms  of  France.     Shortly  after,   a.  d., 
Denmark  declared  war  against  Sweden,  whose    1808- 
king,  Gustavus  IV.,  a  son  of  the  celebrated  Gustavus 
III.,  who,  in  1792,  at  a  masked-ball,  had  been  mur- 
dered by  Captain  John  Jacob  Ankarstrom,  was  in  the 
closest   connection  with   England,    and   strove  for   the 
possession  of  Norway.     A  few  days  after  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war  with  Sweden,  the  imbecile  Chris-   a.  d., 
tian  VII.  died  in  Rendsburg,   Holstein,  and  his    1808 
son,  who,  since  1784,  had  ruled  Denmark  and  Norway 
as  crown-prince,  ascended  the  throne  of  both  kingdoms 
by  the  name  of  Frederick  VI. 

The  kingdoms  were,  at  that  time,  in  a  very  critica< 
situation,  involved  in  a  double  war,  and  on  account  of 
the  loss  of  the  fleet  not  able  to  undertake  anything 
of  consequence  against  England,  their  most  dangerous 
enemy ;  their  commerce  was  weakened  by  England's 
capturing  many  hundred  merchantmen,  and  their  agri- 
culture was  greatly  interrupted  and  depressed.  The. 
capital  had  suffered  greatly  by  the  English  bom- 
bardment ;  and  some  years  before,  1794,  it  had  been 
greatly  injured  by  a  fire,  which  even  consumed  the 
splendid  palace  of  Christiansborg,  considered  one  of  the 
most  costly  and  beautiful  in  Europe. 

French  reinforcements  arrived  in  Denmark  under  the 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  419 

command  of  Charles  John  Bernadotte,  prince  of  Pon- 
tecorvo,  one  of  Napoleon's  most  celebrated  marshals, 
and  preparations  were  made  to  make  a  descent  upon 
Skane  in  Sweden.  The  reinforcements  consisted  mostly 
of  Spanish  soldiers,  who  mutinied,  and  the  expedition 
was  abandoned.  But  on  the  Norwegian  frontier,  the 
war  was  waged  very  successfully  by  the  skillful,  tal- 
ented, and  generally  beloved  prince,  Christian  August, 
of  Augustenburg. 

Meanwhile  the  eccentric  Gustavus  Adolphus  IV. , 
who,  by  his  imprudent  reign,  had  brought  Sweden  into 
the  most  miserable  condition,  had  been  deposed  on  the 
13th  of  March,  1809,  and  his  uncle,  Charles  XIIL, 
raised  to  the  Swedish  throne.  After  his  accession  to 
A.  d.,   the  crown  of  Sweden,  peace  was  concluded  with 

1809.  Denmark,  in  Jonk  oping,  by  which  everything 
remained  as  before  the  war,  and  with  Russia  the  same 
year,  in  Frederikshamn,  by  which  peace  Sweden  lost 
Finland,  which  for  six  hundred  and  fifty  years  had 
belonged  to  Sweden — the  most  unfortunate  peace  Swe- 
den has  ever  concluded. 

Charles  XIIL  being  old  and   childless,   the   Swedes 
A.  d.,  elected  prince  Christian  August,  of  Augusten- 

1810.  burg,  successor  to  the  throne.  By  the  name  of 
Charles  August  he  arrived  in  Sweden,  where  he,  by  his 
mild  and  unaffected  deportment,  made  himself  highly 
beloved;  but  while  he  was  reviewing  a  regiment  of 
hussars  in  Skane,  at  Quidinge  Heath,  he  died  suddenly, 


420  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

not  without  some  suspicion  of  poison.  Count  a.d. 
Axel  Fersen,  suspected  of  having  poisoned  him,  181°- 
was,  when  the  body  of  the  dearly  beloved  crown-prince 
was  escorted  to  the  tomb,  cut  to  pieces  by  the  mob  of 
Stockholm.  The  Swedish  senate  feeling  convinced  that 
a  tried  warrior  was,  under  the  sad  circumstances,  neces- 
sary for  Sweden,  tendered  the  succession  to  Charles 
John  Bernadotte,  who  had  won  their  favor  by  the  leni- 
ency and  prudence  he  had  displayed  some  years  before 
in  the  North  of  Germany.  Bernadotte,  willingly  accepting 
the  glorious  offer,  to  the  secret  annoyance  of  Napoleon, 
who  had  long  been  jealous  of  his  military  fame  and 
independent  spirit,  arrived  in  Sweden  in  October,  1810, 
by  the  name  of  Charles  John. 

To  return  to  Denmark  :  against  England  the  war 
could  only  be  waged  very  weakly,  Denmark  being 
deprived  of  her  fleet ;  and  the  few  men-of-war  which  had 
escaped  the  attention  of  the  English  in  1807,  were  suc- 
cessively captured,  amongst  others,  the  Prince  Christian, 
which,  after  a  most  heroic  resistance  under  admiral 
Jessen,  was  entirely  cut  up  on  the  northern  coast  of 
Sjelland.  But,  notwithstanding  Denmark  had  nothing 
but  a  few  small  vessels  and  gun-boats,  which  had  been 
built  by  patriotic  private  people,  to  oppose  the  English 
men-of-war  cruising  all  the  time  round  in  the  Danish 
sounds  and  belts,  the  Danish  sea- warriors  often  battled 
bravely  against  the  enemy,  and  caused  him,  in  the 
course  of  the  war,  many  severe  losses.     But  an  attempt 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  421 

made  by  the  Danes  to  recover  the  island  of  Anholt,  m 
the  Cattegat,  was  defeated  by  the  English  garrison  ;  a 
great  loss  to  the  international  commerce. 

Sweden  could  scarcely  be  said  to  be  at  war  with 
Great  Britain.  Bernadotte  soon  discovered  that  subser- 
viency to  France  was  inconsistent  with  the  interests  of 
his  adopted  country,  and  he  secretly  entered  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  Russian  emperor  for  restoring  their 
mutual  independence. 

In  the  year  1812  the  situation  of  Denmark  became 
yet  more  critical.  On  the  24th  of  June,  1812,  Napoleon 
crossed  the  Niemen  at  the  head  of  "  the  Grand  Army" 
and  entered  upon  his  ever-memorable  Russian  campaign. 
On  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  September  the  great  battle 
was  fought  at  the  small  village  of  Borodino,  seventy 
miles  from  Moscow,  where  neither  side  gained  a  decisive 
victory.  Napoleon  now  approached  Moscow,  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  Czars,  revered  by  the  Russians  as  Jerusa- 
lem by  the  Jews.  The  citizens  resolved  not  only  to 
abandon  their  beloved  metropolis,  but  to  consign  it  to  the 
flames ;  and  Napoleon,  not  able  to  check  the  conflagra- 
tion, had  to  undertake  his  perilous  retreat. 

Exasperated  at  Napoleon,  and  to  acquire  assistance 
against  this  his  enemy,  and,  if  possible,  to  break  him 
entirely,  the  Russian  emperor,  Alexander,  although  there 
was  at  that  time  peace  and  amity  between  Denmark 

A.  d.,  and  Russia,  offered  Sweden  his  aid  in  depriving 

1813.   Denmark  of  Norway.     The  following  year  Den- 


122  HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

mar*  was  summoned  to  share  in  the  war  against  Napo- 
leon, and  resign  Norway  to  Sweden.  This  iniquitous 
request  left  nothing  to  Denmark  but  to  take  a  yet  closer 
part  with  France,  whereby  all  the  powers  which  were 
allied  against  France  now  became  Denmark's  enemies ; 
and  after  Napoleon,  on  the  18th  of  October,  1813,  had 
been  signally  defeated  at  Leipsic,  an  immense  army  of 
Swedish,  Prussian,  and  Russian  troops,  commanded  by 
the  elected  crown-prince  of  Sweden,  Prince  of  Ponte- 
corvo,  now  called  Charles  John,  rushed  upon  the  fron- 
tiers of  Denmark.  The  Danish  army,  which  had  pitched 
its  camp  in  Holstein,  had  to  retreat,  but  fought  bravely 
against  superior  numbers.  A  division  of  the  army  had 
on  its  retreat  been  cut  off  from  the  fortress  of  Rends- 
burg,  but,  after  an  honorable  and  obstinate  battle  a.  d., 
at  Sehestedt,  won  the  field.  1813- 

Denmark  having  now,  through  seven  years,  endured 
a  desolating  war,  could  no  longer  afford  to  con-  Jan  u 
tinue  the  contest,  and  Frederick  VI.  submitted  to   A.  D., 
conclude  the  peace  of  Kiel,  by  which  Denmark    1814' 
resigned   Norway   to   Sweden.     Thus  the    close   union 
which,    for   four   hundred    and   thirty-four   years,    had 
existed  between  Denmark  and  Norway,  was  dissolved, 
and  Denmark  lost  a  large  kingdom,  the  inhabitants  of 
which  had  always  obeyed  the  Danish  kings  with  love 
and  loyalty  ;  and  the  allies  have  incurred  just  censure 
for  aiding  in  this  forcible  annexation  of  Norway  to  Swe- 
den, against  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  ths  inhabi- 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  423 

tants  As  a  sort  of  compensation  for  the  loss  of  Norway, 
Denmark  obtained  Swedish  Pomerania,  which  was 
afterwards  exchanged  with  Prussia  for  the  duchy  of 
Lauenburg  and  a  sum  of  money.  Peace  was  also  con- 
cluded with  England  at  Kiel,  by  which  Denmark  had  to 
concede  Helgoland,  a  rocky  island  in  the  North  Sea,  to 
Great  Britain. 

Nevertheless  the  Norwegians  tried  to  defend  their 
independence  under  the  Danish  hereditary  prince,  Chris- 
tian Frederick,  who  gave  Norway  a  free  constitution, 
and  was  proclaimed  king,  but  never  acknowledged 
by  any  European  state.  The  Swedish  crown-prince, 
Charles  John  (Bernadotte),  now  marched  his  victorious 
army  into  Norway,  and  the  Swedish  fleet  conquered 
Frederickstad.  The  fortress  of  Frederickshald  was  be- 
sieged, and  the  Swedish  army  advanced  upon  Christiania, 
the  capital  of  Norway.  The  superiority  being  too  large, 
the  Norwegians  hastened  to  secure  their  persons  and 
August  ProPerty  Dy  a  capitulation  in  Moss,  upon  condi- 

A.  D.,  tion  that  Norway  should  belong  to  Sweden,  and 

18U-  Christian  Frederick  immediately  leave  Norway  ; 
the  Swedish  king,  however,  confirming  that  free  consti- 
tution which  Christian  Frederick  had  given  to  Norway. 

Although  Norway  is  now  under  the  same  crown  with 
Sweden,  it  is  in  reality  little  connected  with  the  latter 
country.  Its  democratic  assembly,  called  the  Storthing, 
meets  for  three  months  once  in  three  years,  by  its  own 
right,   and  not  by  any  writ  from  the  king.     If  a  bill 


424  '  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

passes  both  divisions  of  this  assembly  in  three  successive 
Storthings,  it  becomes  a  law  of  the  land  without  the 
royal  assent ;  a  right  which  no  other  monarchico-legis 
lative  assembly  in  Europe  possesses. 

In  the  meantime  the  fate  of  France  was  decided ; 
Napoleon  was,  on  the  2d  of  April,  formally  de-  a.  d., 
posed,  and,  by  a  treaty  between  him  and  the  18U- 
allies,  promised  the  sovereignty  of  the  island  of  Elba 
and  a  pension.  But  when  he  suddenly  landed  at  Frejus, 
(March  1,  1815),  and  soon  again  found  himself  at  the 
summit  of  power,  and  re-ascended  the  throne  of  France, 
Denmark  took  part  with  the  other  European  powers  in 
fighting  against  him ;  and  after  having  lost  the  memo- 
rable battle  of  "Waterloo,  nine  miles  south  of  Brussels 
(18th  of  June,  1815),  Napoleon  a  second  time  abdicated 
the  throne  of  France,  and  was  banished  by  the  allies  tc 
St.  Helena,  where  he  died  on  the  5th  of  May,  1821. 

At  the  general  congress  of  the  allied  powers,  a.  d., 
which  assemblea  at  Vienna,  the  Danish  king,  1815- 
Frederick  VI.,  was  present,  and  subscribed  to  the  incor- 
poration of  the  duchy  of  Holstein  into  the  Germanic 
Confederation.  Of  Schleswig  not%  word  was  spoken,  it 
being  considered  an  inseparable  part  of  the  Danish  body. 
Since  that  time  the  peace  of  Denmark  has  not  been 
interrupted  until  1848,  when  the  rebellious  duchies  tried 
to  shake  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and  erect  themselves  into 
independent  states,  and  waged  a  sanguinary  three  years1 
war  against  the  Danish  king,  being  assisted  by  more 
than  twenty  thousand  Prussians  and  Hanoverians 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


425 


Of  the  favorable  period  previous  to  the  "breaking  out 
of  the  war.  the  government  had  availed  itself,  to  make 
important  improvements  in  agriculture  and  in  other 
matters.  "When  crown-prince  Frederick,  in  the  year 
1784,  during  his  father's  imbecility,  assumed  the  reins 
of  government,  the  peasantry  was  in  a  most  lamentable 
condition,  and  agriculture  very  defective.  Community 
of  ground  still  prevailed  in  most  places,  although  in  1781 
a  strict  law  had  been  enacted  against  it,  but  on  account 
of  prevailing  prejudices,  it  had  been  very  difficult  to 
carry  this  law  into  execution.  Not  less  detrimental  for 
the  advancement  of  agriculture  was  the  bond-service, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  yet  in  use.  The  number  of 
owners  of  farms  decreased  more  and  more,  and  the 
tenants  were  in  most  places  impoverished  and  oppressed. 
Many  sorts  of  grain  were  not  cultivated  at  all,  and  when 
sterile  years  happened,  the  country  could  not  supply 
itself  with  provisions.  Public  instruction  was  yet  at  a 
very  low  ebb,  though  Frederick  IY.  and  Christian  VI 
had  made  active  efforts  for  improving  it.  As  far  as  the 
personal  relation  to  the  nobility  was  concerned,  the 
tenants  were  subject  to  the  greatest  despotism.  When 
the  nobleman  was  just  and  well-minded,  the  tenants  did 
tolerably  well ;  but  if  he  would  intrude  upon  them,  it 
was  difficult  for  the  peasants  to  be  protected  against 
oppression  and  injustice.  After  military  service  of  many 
years,  the  country  lad  was  obliged  to  return  to  that 
estate  from  which  he  was  enlisted,  and  then  to  take 


426  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

what  farm  soever  the  nobleman  might  please  to  give 
him,  and  on  whatsoever  terms.  The  bond-service  being 
indefinite,  the  nobleman  exercised  the  most  unlimited 
power  over  the  tenants'  time  and  labor,  and  was  autho- 
rized to  lash  them  and  punish  them  with  the  wooden 
horse  and  jail ;  a  right  which  the  nobility  often  exer- 
cised in  its  full  extent,  and  occasionally  with  circum- 
stances of  peculiar  atrocity. 

But  the  crown-prince,  a  warm  and  munificent  patron 
of  the  peasantry,  appointed  (1784)  a  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Christian  Frederick  Ditlev  Reventlov,  Andrew 
Peter  Bernstorff,  and  Chr.  Colbjornsen,  who,  by  their 
skill  and  activity  in  improving  the  condition  of  the  agri- 
cultural classes,  have  acquired  an  immortal  name.  The 
beginning  was  made  in  the  counties  of  Kronborg  and 
Fredericksborg,  near  Copenhagen ;  the  ground  was 
parceled,  bond-service  abrogated,  the  tithes  changed  to 
a  money  tribute,  and  the  farms  were  given  to  the  pea- 
sants as  property. 

As  the  result  of  this  reform,  a  general  improvement 
took  place  among  the  peasantry.  Next  year  a  a.  D., 
law  was  immediately  enacted,  which  forbade  the  1785 
nobility  to  exercise  any  despotism  over  them,  their 
mutual  rights  and  duties  being  exactly  fixed.  The 
noblemen  were  now  forbidden  to  inflict  punishment 
upon  the  peasants,  either  by  stripes  or  imprisonment, 
and  it  was  decided  that  the  farms,  previous  to  being 
given  to  the  peasants,  should  be  examined  by  umpires ; 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  427 

controversies  respecting  the  farming  out  should  be  deci- 
ded upon  by  the  magistracy,  and  no  longer  left  to  the 
sentence  of  the  despotic  nobleman. 

Yet  more  important  was  the  emancipation  of  the 
June  20  peasantry  from  feudal  bondage.  A  law  was 
a.  D.,  enacted  enfranchising  all  the  peasantry  who  were 
under  fourteen  or  above  thirty-six  years  of  age, 
and  all  others  from  the  first  of  January,  1800.  This 
memorable  law  restored  personal  liberty  to  the  Danish 
peasantry,  and  made  the  peasant  a  free  citizen  of  the 
state,  as  well  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
The  government  also  extended  its  care  to  the  peasantry 
of  the  duchies,  where  an  abominable  slavery  resting 
upon  the  peasantry,  and  depriving  not  only  the  males 
but  also  the  females  of  personal  liberty,  was  entirely 
abolished. 

All  these  thorough  reformations  in  the  condition  of 
the  agricultural  classes,  met,  however,  with  great  oppo- 
sition from  a  great  part  of  the  nobility,  an  application 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  two  noblemen  being  tendered 
to  the  crown-prince,  to  repeal  the  new  laws,  which  they 
particularized  as  detrimental  to  the  country,  and  repug- 
nant to  their  own  privileges ;  but,  fortunately,  the  crown- 
prince  had  firmness  enough  to  answer  in  the  negative, 
and  the  government  continued  to  follow  the  humane 
principles  it  had  adopted.  Those  inequalities  in  burdens 
and  privileges  among  the  citizens  of  the  state,  which 
through  centuries  had  been  kept  up,  were  now  succes- 


428  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

sively  diminished.  The  great  privilege  which  the  nobility 
had  of  appointing  clergymen  and  judges  on  their  estates, 
gave  no  assurance  that  these  important  offices  would  be 
filled  by  qualified  persons,  and  had  often  occasioned  the 
grossest  abuses.  No  sooner,  therefore,  had  the  a.  d., 
crown-prince  ascended  the  throne,  than  he  1809- 
changed  this  detrimental  privilege  to  a  right  of  nomi- 
nating (jus  proponendi),  upon  the  practice  of  which, 
moreover,  many  restrictions  were  placed. 

The  Jews,  in  Denmark  as  well  as  in  most  other  states, 
deprived  of  all  civil  privileges,  and  excluded  from  exer- 
cising any  profession  and  filling  any  offices,  were  now 
placed  nearly  on  equal  terms  with  the  other  inhabitants, 
and  Frederick  VI.  already,  when  crown-prince,  testified 
to  his  humane  and  philanthropic  principles,  by  a.  d., 
putting  a  stop  to  the  slave-trade  in  the  Danish  1782- 
"West  Indies';  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Denmark  and 
the  United  States  preceded  England  in  declaring  the 
slave-trade  unlawful.  But  the  example  thus  set  forth 
has  afterwards  been  followed  by  all  the  great  maritime 
countries  of  Europe  and  America.  At  length,  in  the 
year  1807,  under  the  Grenville  administration,  an  act 
for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  passed  the  British 
legislature,  to  which  the  impulse  was  given  in  the  year 
1784,  when  Dr.  Peckard,  vice-chancellor  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  proposed  as  the  subject  of  a  Latin 
sssay,  for  which  a  gold  medal  was  to  be  given,  an  an- 
swer to  the  question  :  Anne  liceat  invitos  in  servitutem 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  429 

dare?  or,  "Is  it  right  to  make  slaves  of  others  against 
their  will  ?"  But,  although  both  the  king  and  the 
people  of  Denmark  have  manifested  the  strongest  repug- 
nance to  the  traffic  in  human  beings,  this  trade  lingered 
in  her  colonies  in  the  west  for  years  after  it  had  been 
declared  illegal.  So  difficult  is  it  to  enforce  just  laws  in 
distant  possessions,  demoralized  by  a  vicious  and  crimi- 
nal system. 

Besides  the  institutions  above  mentioned,  Frederick 
VI.  made,  in  other  respects,  many  important  improve- 
ments. The  criminal  code  was  highly  improved  by  a 
new  law  on  theft.  The  tribunal  of  inquisition,  also 
called  the  sharp  examination,  the  branding,  and  the 
barbarous  running  the  gantlet,  were  abrogated.  Of 
great  importance  for  commerce  was  the  new  tariff,  which 
regulated  the  commercial  affairs  according  to  sounder 
principles  than  before.  Useful  alterations  were  also 
made  in  the  organization  of  the  army ;  the  enrollment 
of  foreign  soldiers  was  .abrogated,  the  army  now  consist- 
ing exclusively  of  the  native  subjects,  while  formerly 
German  soldiers  comprised  a  considerable  part  of  the 
Danish  army.  The  military  officers'  higher  scientific 
education  was  provided  for  by  the  erection  of  a  Military 
Academy,  where  the  young  engineers  learn  mathematics, 
and  to  unite  mobility  of  manoeuvre  with  rapidity  of  fire 
and  precision  of  aim. 

That  the  peasantry  might  enjoy  the  right  fruit  of  the 
many  improvements  which  had  been  made   for  their 


430  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

advancement,  "  Frederick  VI.  deemed  it  necessary  tho- 
roughly to  organize  and  ameliorate  the  public  instruc- 
tion. To  train  up  qualified  teachers  for  the  peasantry, 
normal  schools  (seminaries)  were  established  in  various 
sections  of  the  country  ;  many  new  schools  were  built, 
and  money  was  assigned  for  the  salaries  of  the  teachers. 
A.  new  school-law  was  enacted,  and  every  peasant  was 
enjoined  to  send  his  children  to  school  for  instruction. 

The  Polytechnic  School,  founded  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  celebrated  natural  philosopher,  Hans 
Christian  Oersted,  has  exercised  a  censiderable  influ- 
ence in  promoting  the  study  of  the  science  of  nature, 
and  spreading  useful  knowledge  and  greater  skill 
amongst  mechanics.  The  University  and  the  learned 
schools  were  thoroughly  reorganized,  mainly  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  active  and  skillful  Frederick  Christian, 
duke  of  Augustenburg,  who,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  was  appointed  patron  of  the  University. 
The  examinations  were  made  more  strict,  and  a  special 
examination  was  enjoined  upon  those,  who  intended  to 
be  teachers  in  the  learned  schools,  called  Examen 
philologicum.  The  Academy  of  Soro,  consumed  by 
fire  in  1813,  was  rebuilt  and  recalled  to  life  in  1822, 
and  solemnly  inaugurated  in  1827.  It  deserves  g  t  2 
also  to  be  remarked,  that  Frederick  VI.  founded  A.  D., 
the  University  of  Christiania,  in  Norway,  which  181L 
the  Norwegians,  therefore,  call  the  Fredericks  Uni* 
versity. 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  431 

Although  Frederick  VI.  had  not  himself  had  the 
benefit  of  a  thorough  education,  we  have  to  observe 
how  much  literature  was  indebted  to  him  for  its  ad- 
vancement and  dissemination  in  Denmark.  Classical 
learning,  the  art  of  criticism,  poetry,  and  history,  began 
from  his  time,  to  make  a  rapid  progress.  The  two 
learned  "bishops  of  Copenhagen,  Frederick  Murder  and 
Peter  Erasmus  Moller,  enriched  the  historical,  antiqua- 
rian, and  theological  literature  with  invaluable  treasures. 
Miinter  is  also  celebrated  for  his  extensive  knowledge  in 
the  oriental  languages.  Malte  Conrad  Bruun,  who, 
for  having  by  his  writings  offended  the  government, 
was  banished,  acquired  in  Paris  an  immortal  name  as 
the  greatest  geographer  of  the  world.  Rask  is  cele- 
brated as  a  great  linguist.  Brondsted  has  immortalized 
himself  by  deeply  searching  into  the  curiosities  of  the 
Greek  antiquities.  Finn  Magnusson  and  C.  Rafn,  both 
yet  living,  unite  deep  knowledge  in  the  antiquities  of 
the  North,  with  perspiquity  of  narration  and  force  of 
language.  The  study  of  jurisprudence  was  vigorously 
promoted  by  Kongslev,  E.  Colbjornson  and  F.  Schlegel ; 
that  of  medicine  by  Tode,  Saxtorph,  F.  L.  Bang, 
Winslow,  and  Herholdt.  H.  C.  Oersted  is  known  over 
the  whole  civilized  world,  for  his  deep  knowledge,  and 
discoveries  in  physics.  Tetens,  Bugge,  and  Degen  have 
signalized  themselves  as  great  mathematicians,  and 
Abildgaard  and  Viborg,  as  superior  veterinarians. 

Bertel  Thorvaldsen  has  placed  himself  at  the  head 


432  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

of  all  the  sculptors  that  ever  the  world  produced. 
Oehlenschlceger  has  won  a  great  name  as  a  poet,  and  the 
strict  unity  of  his  pieces  demonstrates  a  thorough  ac- 
quaintance with  the  rules  of  the  classic  tragedy.  His 
genius  was  original,  and  he  disdained  to  imitate. 
Coeval  with  Oehlenschlseger  was  his  friend,  the 
illustrious  theologian  and  poet  of  Sweden,  bishop 
Esajas  Tegner.  He  was  born  on  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1782.  In  the  year  1824  he  was  appointed  bishop 
of  Yexo,  and  justified  this  promotion  by  the  most 
zealous  guardianship  of  the  educational  institutions  of 
his  large  diocese.  His  spirited  speeches  on  public  occa- 
sions often  excited  an  extraordinary  sensation,  and  his 
eloquent  address  to  the  assembly  of  the  Swedish  clergy, 
in  Vexo,  in  1836,  has  not  been  confined  within  the 
Jimits  of  his  diocese,  but  convinced  all  classes,  that  he 
no  less  deserved  consideration  as  a  deep  and  fearless 
theologian,  than  as  an  accomplished  and  nearly  une- 
qualed  poet.  In  his  charming  poem,  Frithiofs  Saga, 
he  has  bequeathed  a  poetic  inheritance  to  posterity, 
never  to  be  lost,  in  which  he,  in  a  masterly  manner, 
resolved  the  epic  form  into  free  lyric  romances.  The 
noble,  the  high-minded,  the  bold,  the  great  features  of 
all  heroism,  are  not  wanting  there.  His  is,  therefore, 
a  perpetual  glory,  "  cut  neque  profuit  quisquam  lau* 
dando,  neque  vituperando  quisquam  nocuitP 

Hans  Christian  Andersen  has,  by  his  poems  and 
novels, '  made  an  agreeable  impression  upon  his  readers, 
and  has  acquired  a  great  name  in  Europe  and  even  now 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  433 

in  the  United  States.  His  productions  are  not  the  fruit 
of  deep  study  or  learning,  but  of  native  talent ;  and  it  is 
to  be  observed  to  his  honor,  that  in  all  his  works,  good- 
ness and  virtue  are  inculcated,  as  he  himself  is  the 
impersonation  of  goodness  and  morality.  This  charac- 
teristic distinguishes  him  from  the  many  worthless 
novelists,  who,  in  a  variety  of  licentious  novels,  have 
prostituted  excellent  talents  in  the  service  of  vice. 

As  Latinist,  J.  N.  Madvig  stands  nearly  unsurpassed, 
and  has  acquired  such  a  renown,  that  the  great  G-erman 
philologers,  when  uncertain  how  to  interpret  a  difficult 
passage  in  the  Latin  classics,  write :  "  Consulamus 
juniorem  Madvigium  Danice."  Dr.  Jacob  Peter 
Mynster,  bishop  of  Sjelland  (ob.  1854),  has,  as  a  learned 
linguist,  theologian,  and  talented  pulpit-orator,  gained 
a  name  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  he,  after  a  deep  philosophic  searching, 
had  embraced  with  all  his  heart,  appears  eloquently 
and  powerfully  embodied* in  his  edifying  sermons  and 
theological  writings,  in  the  clear  reflections  of  which 
a  rich  fullness  of  sublime  thoughts  and  a  deep  insight 
into  the  human  heart  are  manifest.  The  strength  oi 
his  pious  and  devout  feelings  warmed  his  audience ;  a 
mild,  but  ministerial  earnestness  gave  his  words  dignity, 
and  in  short,  he  had  a  strong  and  vigorous  intellect, 
rendered,  by  scientific  culture,  capable  of  clear  discrimi- 
nation, correct  analysis,  and  happy  combinations.  Hia 
views  of  the  Christian  doctrines  were  clear  and  decided; 


434  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

he  received  the  great  system  of  evangelical  truth  in  its 
simplicity,  and  he  defended  that  truth  with  modesty  and 
gentleness.  In  all  his  preparations  for  the  pulpit,  his 
great  and  leading  desire  and  purpose  were  to  set  forth 
Christ,  the  great  high-priest  of  our  profession.  "When 
lie  departed  this  life,  the  great  theologians  of  Germany 
wrote :  "  Who  can  predict  the  day  when  Mynster's 
name  shall  be  forgotten?" 

Nicolai  Frederick  Severin  Grundlvig,  still  living, 
equally  remarkable  as  a  pulpit-orator,  poet,  and  deep 
historian,  has  exercised  a  mighty  influence  upon  the 
religious  and  literary  life,  and  in  his  learned  explana- 
tions of  the  massive  Northern  mythology,  he  is  generally 
considered  unrivalled.  As  elegant  and  thorough  histo- 
rians, L.  Englestoft,  E.  Werlauf  and  C.  Molbeck  in 
Denmark,  and  Geyer  in  Sweden,  deserve  to  be  men- 
tioned, who  all  have  sought  to  inspire  their  readers 
with  esteem  for  history,  to  warm  their  hearts  and 
strengthen  their  moral  power. 

But  I  shall  not  close  this  hasty  sketch  of  Scandina- 
vian literature,  without  mentioning  Henry  Nicolai 
Clausen,  supreme  theological  professor  at  the  University 
of  Copenhagen.  Richly  endowed  with  gifts  and  graces, 
he  has  published,  both  in  Latin  and  Danish,  many 
learned  works,  which  have  gained  him  a  great  number 
of  disciples  and  admirers,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
He  ascended,  'in  early  youth,  to  the  post  of  a  theological 
professor,  and  there  he  has  stood,  from  week  to  week 


HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA.  4S» 

during  a  period  of  nearly  thirty-two  years,  reflecting 
from  his  own  clear  and  polished  mind  the  light  of  divine 
truth,  and  communicating  it  to  his  numerous  disciples, 
who,  after  having  sat  at  the  feet  of  this  approved  master 
in  Israel,  have  come  forth  from  his  instruction  able  minis- 
ters of  the  New  Testament.  Besides  his  theological 
erudition  he  has  excited  admiration  by  managing  the 
Latin  language  with  an  uncommon  degree  of  volubility 
and  genius,  and,  on  the  whole,  I  can  convey  but  a  faint 
idea  of  that  portraiture  of  the  Christian  and  the  learned 
professor,  which  his  life  has  exhibited.  There  have 
rarely  been  combined  such  simplicity  and  spirituality, 
such  youthful  elasticity  and  manly  vigor,  such  gentle- 
ness of  manners  and  decision  of  character,  as  are  seen 
in  him. 

The  seven  years'  unfortunate  war,  terminating  in  so 
heavy  losses,  had  excessively  enervated  the  state. 
Agriculture  was  in  a  most  lamentable  condition,  com- 
merce almost  annihilated,  industry  was  stagnant  and 
money  matters  deranged.  The  interest  of  the  public 
debt  remained  unpaid,  the  certificates  of  it  depreciated 
every  day,  and  many,  who  held  them,  were  obliged  to 
sell  them  for  almost  nothing.  To  remedy  these  evils, 
A.  d.,  the  surplus  revenue  from  the  duties  on  imports, 
1818.  anc[  the  change  of  the  royal  bank  to  a  national 
bank,  administered  without  the  control  of  the  govern- 
ment, were  appropriated.  This  measure  immediately 
restored  public  credit,  certificates  of  public  debt  rose  to 


436  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

par,  and  those  who  had  purchased  low  realized  immense 
fortunes.  Business  of  all  kinds  revived,  and  the  country- 
entered  upon  a  career  of  prosperous  activity  and  enter- 
prise.    Nevertheless,  the  national  debt  yet  amounted,  in 

1847,  to  one  hundred  and  six  millions  of  rix-dollars. 

Sweden  having  also  suffered  very  severely  by  her  war 
with  Russia  and  Denmark,  was,  however,  this  year, 
happy  enough  to  get  rid  of  her  inefficient  and  demorali- 
zed king,  Charles  XIII.,  who  expired  in  February,  1818, 
and  John  Baptista  Julius  Bernadotte,  prince  of  Ponte- 
corvo,  who  already  (21st  of  August,  1810,)  had  been 
elected  Swedish  crown-prince,  ascended  now  the  throne  oi 
Sweden  and  Norway,  and  was  solemnly  crowned  on  the 
11th  of  May,  1818.  His  personal  influence,  due  alike 
to  his  diplomatic  wisdom,  his  virtues,  and  his  eminent 
military  talents  acquired  in  Napoleon's  school,  became 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  Sweden.  During  the 
twenty-six  years  of  his  wise  administration,  all  differ- 
ences with  foreign  nations  had  been  settled  ;  public  and 
private  credit  was  restored,  and  ample  provision  made 
for  the  payment  of  the  public  debt.  When  ascending 
the  throne,  he  assumed  the  motto:  "  The  love  of  my 
people  is  my  reward,"  and  he  fully  realized  it.  This 
celebrated  monarch,  to  whom  Sweden  is  indebted  for 
her  present  influence  and  temporal  happiness,  was  born 
on  the  26th  of  January,  1764,  in  the  city  of  Pau  in  the 
southern  part  of  France,  and  married  to  Eugenia  Bern- 
hardina    Desideria,   daughter   of    a   rich    merchant  in 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  437 

Marseilles,  by  whom  he  only  had  one  son,  prince 
Oscar,  afterwards  the  talented  and  highly  beloved 
king  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  by  the  name  of  Oscar  L 

Although,  as  above  mentioned,  the  kingdom  of  Den- 
mark had  commenced  to  enter  upon  a  career  of  activity 
and  enterprise,  its  rapid  thriving  was  highly  retarded 
by  a  series  of  unfavorable  years,  through  which  the 
grain  prices  were  so  low,  that  the  king  had  to  lighten 
the  taxes  for  the  peasants.  The  flourishing  commerce 
which  Copenhagen  had  carried  on  with  China,  America, 
and  the  East  and  West  Indies,  and  which  had  been  a 
ricr:  sf  force  of  wealth  for  the  whole  kingdom,  had,  during 
the  war,  been  utterly  ruined,  and  since  that  time  the 
commerce  of  Copenhagen  has  not  been  of  any  conse- 
quence. Only  in  the  last  decennary  of  the  reign  of 
Frederick  VI.,  the  country  recovered  a  little  strength, 
the  commerce  of  the  cities  increased,  and  on  account  of 
the  improvements  which  had  been  made  in  agriculture 
and  in  the  condition  of  the  peasantry,  the  production? 
of  the  country  increased  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
exports  almost  doubled ;  even  in  industry  and  home 
trade  a  brisker  life  began  to  stir  up. 

But  the  very  last  part  of  the  reign  of  Frederick  VI.  has 
been  remarkable  for  an  institution  which  became  of  great 
influence  upon  Denmark's  felicity  and  advancement. 
Since  the  introduction  of  the  absolute  power,  1660,  the 
people  had  been  deprived  of  all  influence  upon  the  legis- 
lation and  the  rule  of  the  state  ;  this  was  altered  by  the 


438  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA 

introduction  of  a  council  representative  of  the  people 
Already,  in  the  year  1720,  Sweden,  under  Frederick  of 
Hesse  Cassel,  had  become  a  hereditary  monarchy,  with 
a  representative  Diet  consisting  of  four  chambers,  formed 
respectively  of  deputies  from  the  nobility,  clergy,  burgh- 
ers, and  peasants,  and  in  a  great  part  of  Europe  the 
people  had  obtained  either  a  deciding  or  an  advising 
influence  upon  the  government ;  and  the  Danish  people, 
influenced  by  the  European  culture  and  by  the  increas- 
ing enlightenment,  had  gradually  come  to  such  a  matu- 
rity as  to  make  its  co-operation  in  the  government  highly 
desirable.  Frederick  VI.,  though  as  fond  of  his  sove- 
reignty as  a  baby  of  his  puppet,  resolved,  nevertheless, 
to  meet  the  demand  of  the  time  by  the  introduc-  M  28 
tion,  both  for  Denmark  and  the  Duchies,  of  a  A.D., 
council  representative  of  the  people ;  a  resolution  83  ' 
received  with  every  demonstration  of  joyous  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom.  All  measures  respect- 
ing government,  all  questions  regarding  public  affairs, 
all  propositions  for  the  public  good,  might  take  their 
rise  indifferently  in  this  council  and  be  discussed  there, 
and  then  presented  to  the  king's  consideration.  But 
being  only  a  deliberative  assembly,  the  king  was  not 
compelled  to  admit  the  proposals  of  the  council,  but. had 
promised  to  take  all  proposals,  which  had  taken  their 
rise  from  this  council,  into  serious  consideration,  and 
make  them  laws,  if  his  wisdom  thought  it  proper  or  pru- 
dent to  do  so.     This  inestimable  privilege  of  the  Danish 


HISTORY    OF     SCANDINAVIA.  439 

subjects  was  productive  of  very  much  good,  and  made 
Frederick  VI.  yet  more  beloved  and  popular  than  he 
already,  by  his  unassuming  manners,  his  national  and 
sincere  mind,  had  been,  when,,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two,  and  after  a  remarkable  reign  of  fifty-five  years, 
first  twenty-four  years  as  crown-prince,  then  thirty-one 
Dec  3  years  as  king,  the  Lord  removed  him  from  this 
A.D.,  scene  of  trial  to  inherit,  life  everlasting.  His 
'  people  mourned  for  him,  but  offered  thanksgiv- 
ing to  God  that  he  had  raised  up  for  them  so  good  and 
so  faithful  a  steward,  who  had  always  been  found  wil- 
ling to  share  their  hardships.  Twelve  peasants  from  the 
county  of  Copenhagen  asked  permission  to  bear  the 
royal  coffin,  on  which  was  written  "  The  memory  of  the 
just  is  blessed."  Prov.  x.  7.  His  queen  was  the  virtu- 
ous and  intelligent  Marie  Sophie  Fredericka,  a  princess 
of  Hesse  Cassel,  who  survived  him  thirteen  years.  Hav- 
ing no  sons  by  her,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  reign  by 
his  cousin,  Christian  Frederick,  ascending  the  throne  by 
the  name  of  Christian  VIII.  Enriched  by  nature  and 
cultivation,  he  was,  when  assuming  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment, considered  one  of  the  most  enlightened  monarchs 
of  Europe ;  and  added  to  this  his  prepossessing  appear- 
ance and  engaging  manners,  and  that,  from  his  shoul- 
ders and  upward  he  was,  like  Saul,  higher  than  any  of 
the  people,  he  was  received  everywhere  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  and  veneration,  Denmark  flattering  herself 
with  the  prospect  of  enjoying   golden  days  under  his 


4:40  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

sway,  and  of  profiting  "by  the  liberal  spirit  to  which  he, 
twenty-five  years  ago,  had  testified  in  Norway.  Puffed 
up,  as  we  have  noticed  before,  by  a  transient  gleam  of 
prosperity,  he  had  in  Norway,  1814,  assumed  the  title  of 
king,  but  was  after  a  little  while,  by  Bernadotte,  whose 
star  was  then  on  the  ascendant,  compelled  to  resign  the 
crown  of  Norway.  But,  however  short  his  reign  was  in 
Norway,  he  has  left  behind  him  an  undying  monument 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Norwegians,  by  giving  them  the  free 
Constitution  above  mentioned,  by  which  he  sowed  the 
seeds  of  freedom,  and  produced  a  rich  harvest  in  the 
blessings  of  independence,  which  spread  quickly  over 
the  whole  kingdom. 

The  Danish  people,  on  good  grounds  expecting  that 
the  new  king,  Christian  VIII.,  would  bless  them  with  a 
like  freedom,  were  nevertheless  highly  deceived  in  their 
expectations,  as  the  king,  having  confined  all  his  ideas 
to  the  power,  dignity,  and  splendor  of  the  crown,  deci- 
dedly declined  giving  a  free  constitution,  asserting  that 
the  people  had  not  yet  attained  to  such  a  degree  of  intel- 
lectual maturity  as  to  be  capable  of  duly  enjoying  the 
blessings  of  freedom.  A  spirit  of  opposition,  which  con- 
fined itself  to  complaints  under  this  reign,  began  in  the 
next  to  break  out  into  active  efforts.  But,  although 
declining  to  bless  Denmark  with  the  privilege  of  liberty, 
and  unwilling  to  renounce  even  the  smallest  particle  of 
the  royal  prerogatives,  he  was  in  many  other  respects  a 
useful  ruler.     He  reformed  the  laws,  encouraged  corn 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA.  441 

merce  ;  and  science  and  the  arts,  which  the  king  himself 
loved  dearly,  were  munificently  patronized  by  him. 

During  his  reign  Dr.  Hans  Larsen  Martensen,  now 
bishop  of  Sjelland,  commenced  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
learned  of  Europe  to  his  brilliant  talents.  After  having, 
in  the  year  1832,  passed  his  theological  examination  at 
the  University  of  Copenhagen,  to  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion and  admiration  of  his  examiners  and  the  faculty,  he 
went  to  Berlin,  where  he  deeply  profited  by  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  great  theologians  and  philosophers,  Neander, 
Marheinecke,  Schelling,  and  Twesten,  and  joined  their 
scientific  debates.  Upon  his  returning,  Christian  VIII. 
appointed  him  theological  professor  at  the  University, 
where  Martensen,  to  the  most  crowded  and  refined 
audience,  delivered  his  spirited  lectures  on  the  strict 
conjunction  of  the  scientific  theology  with  philosophy, 
and  on  the  exegesis  of  the  New  Testament.  His  bril- 
liant gifts  as  a  public  orator  induced  the  king  to  appoint 
him  court  chaplain,  expeoting  in  him  an  able  champion 
and  defender  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  king  was  not 
disappointed  in  his  expectations.  In  the  king's  chapel 
he  mounted  the  pulpit,  where  he  did  not  shun  to  de- 
clare the  whole  counsel  of  Grod,  proclaiming  His  severity 
m  due  conjunction  with  His  loving- kindness.  Peculiarly 
skilled  in  setting  forth  the  awfulness  of  Sinai,  and  in 
"launching  forth  the  terrors  of  the  law,  he  never  fails  in 
the  tender  presentation  of  the  great  sufferings  and  love 
of  our  Saviour,  and  of  the  attractions  of  his  cross  to 


442  HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 

dying  men.  In  the  year  1846  he  published  his  Dog. 
matics,  a  clear  and  learned  work,  which  immediately 
was  translated  into  German,  and  received  with  great 
applause  among  the  learned  theologians  of  Germany. 

Christian  VIII.  not  only  patronized  literary  men,  but 
also  directed  his  royal  attention  to  other  branches  of  his 
kingdom's  welfare  and  advancement.  Railroads  were 
laid  down  in  Holstein  and  Sjelland,  the  Sound  Dues  at 
Elsenore  were  reduced,  the  public  and  learned  schools 
were  re-organized,  a  new  seminary  (normal  school)  was 
erected  in  Jutland,  Iceland  was  given  a  council  repre- 
sentative of  the  people,  and  the  East  India  possessions  no 
longer  being  of  any  pecuniary  profit  to  Denmark,  were 
disposed  of  to  England.  Many  circumstances  had  long 
contributed  to  check  the  prosperity  of  the  Danish  East 
India  Company,  but  none  more  than  the  pertinacious 
jealousy  of  the  Dutch,  who  excluded  them  from  the  most 
profitable  branches  of  trade  ;  and  Christian  VIII.,  there- 
fore, did  well  in  selling  them.  But,  although  tho  kings 
of  Denmark  were  not  successful  in  carrying  out  any 
considerable  commerce  there,  they  have  honorably  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  their  zeal  for  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel ;  and,  notwithstanding  their  limited  means, 
they  have  diffused  the  principles  of  true  religion  through 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  south  of  India  and  of  the 
east  of  Africa. 

In  North  Schleswig,  where  the  Danish  language  was 
used  in  divine  service  and   school-teaching,    Christian 


HISTORY     OF     SCANDINAVIA. 


443 


VIII.  commanded  it  to  be  used  also  in  lawsuits  and 
public  affairs,  instead  of  the  German  language,  before 
used,  as  lie  also  in  other  ways  has  promoted  the  interest 
of  the  mother-tongue.  During  his  reign  the  neigh- 
boring kingdom,  Sweden,  lost,  on  the  8th  of  March, 
1844,  her  great  and-  talented  king,  Charles  John  XIV., 
once,  as  we  know,  Napoleon's  celebrated  marshal.  He 
was  succeeded  in  the  Swedish  throne  by  his  son,  Oscar 
J.,  born  on  the  4th  of  July,  1799,  and  married  to 
Josephine  Maximiliane  Eugenie,  princess  of  Leuchten- 
berg,  daughter  of  Napoleon's  step-son,  prince  Eugene. 
By  her  King  Oscar  has  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 
Sweden  thus  now  ruled  by  French  blood,  and  no  more 
by  the  descendants  of  the  celebrated  house  of  Vasa,  has, 
nevertheless,  not  had  any  reason  of  complaining  over  it, 
Charles  John  XIV.  being  an  excellent  king,  and  his  son, 
Oscar  I.,  having  wielded  the  sceptre  with  clemency, 
wisdom,  and  justice. 

In  the  year  1859;  Sweden  and  Norway  had  to 
mourn  for  the  loss  of  this  high-minded  and  accom- 
plished monarch.  His  son,  the  crown  prince  Carl 
Eugene,  then  ascended  the  throne  of  the  twin-king- 
doms, on  the  8th  of  July,  of  the  same  year,  under 
the  name  of  Carl  the  Fifteenth,  whose  genius  and 
talent  for  government,  combined  with  knowledge  of 
the  eminent  masters  of  antiquity,  will  enable  him  to 
redeem  the  expectations  of  his  dear  Swedish  and 
Norwegian  subjects. 


U4: 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 


Christian  VIII.,  although  declining  to  give  Denmark 
a  free  constitution,  thought,  however,  at  the  close  of  his 
life,  of  meeting  the  demand  of  the  time,  and  had  him  • 
Jan  20  se^>  delineated  such  a  one,  when,  in  an  earlier 
A.  D.,  hour  than  he  and  his  people  expected  it,  death 
1M8'  claimed  him.  He  was  married  to  Caroline 
Amalie,  a  princess  of  Augustenburg,  and  sister  to  the 
rebellious  duke  who  mainly  involved  Denmark  in  the 
horrible  war  with  the  Duchies.  She  is  still  living,  and 
has,  loving  her  God  and  her  Kedeemer,  done,  and 
is  doing,  very  much  to  promote  a  true  religious  life. 
After  the  death  of  Christian  VIII. ,  the  crown  was 
placed  on  the  head  of  his  only  son,  Frederick  VII, 
born  on  the  6th  of  October,  1808.  No  sooner  had  he 
ascended  the  throne,  than  he  yielded  to  the  clamors  of 
his  subjects,  dismissed  his  father's  old  aristocratic  min- 
istry, appointed  a  new  one,  and  gave  Denmark  the  long 
desiderated  free  constitution,  which  made  him  very  popu- 
lar and  beloved,  Denmark  now  being  no  more  an  abso- 
lute, but  a  constitutional  monarchy.  The  Constitution, 
freed  from  all  those  despotic  restraints  with  which  it  had 
been  fettered  by  the  Act  of  Sovereignty  in  1660,  was 
now  fixed  on  a  basis  more  favorable  to  the  people's 
liberties  than  had  ever  been  known  in  the  annals  of  the 
nation.  Undeniably,  a  few  men,  who  had  put  this 
important  wheel  in  motion,  had  made  patriotism  a  cloak 
for  their  views  of  private  interest,  and  made  a  great 
harvest ;  but,  be  it  as  it  may,  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that, 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  4*0 

under  the  influence  of  this  Constitution,  of  which  Den- 
mark now,  together  with  the  United  States  and  Norway, 
has  to  boast,  the  condition  of  society,  whatever  fluctua- 
tions it  must,  from  the  constitution  of  our  frail  human 
nature,  be  liable  to,  has  been  such  as  to  answer  all  the 
wishes  of  the  good,  the  virtuous,  and  the  industrious 
part  of  the  community,  and  its  restraints  have  proved 
grievous  to  the  overweening  nobility  alone,  on  whom 
restraint  was  necessary. 

Frederick  VII.  mounted  the  throne  under  critical 
circumstances,  but  before  entering  on  the  abominable 
war  with  the  Duchies,  wrought  by  the  treacherous  policy 
of  the  rebellious  duke  of  Augustenburg,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  cast  a  brief  glance  at  the  affairs  of  Europe. 

A  revolutionary  spirit  pervaded,  in  the  year  1848, 
nearly  all  Europe,  like  an  epidemic  fever.  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, of  France,  having  acquired  a  high  reputation  for 
wisdom  and  firmness,  was,  however,  far  from  finding 
his  throne  a  bed  of  roses.  In  the  beginning  of  his  reign, 
zealously  supported  by  the  middle  classes,  who  looked 
upon  him  as  their  guarantee  for  constitutional  freedom, 
he  soon  lost  their  favor,  as  they  believed  themselves 
deceived  in  their  expectations,  and  an  all-pervading 
feeling  of  discontent  taking  place,  led  to  the  Revolution 
of  February,  1848.  On  the  23d  of  February,  crowds 
appeared  in  the  streets  of  the  capital,  barricades  were 
erected,  and  the  cry :  "  To  arms !  Down  with  Louis 
Philippe !      Down    with    the    Bourbons ! "     resounded 


446  HISTORY  OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

throughout  Paris.  The  troops  allowed  themselves  to  be 
disarmed  by  the  mob,  who  then  demanded  the  abdica- 
tion of  the  king,  who,  with  his  queen,  escaped  to  St. 
Cloud,  and  thence,  in  disguise,  to  England.  Royalty- 
had  vanished,  and  France  was  again  a  Republic.  No 
sooner  had  the  accounts  of  the  affairs  in  Paris  reached 
Germany,  than  popular  commotions  took  place,  and  the 
people  demanded  a  political  constitution,  that  should 
give  them  a  share  in  legislation,  establish  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  and  otherwise  secure  them  their  rights.  The 
grand-duke  of  Baden  had  to  yield  to  the  demands  of 
his  people,  and  appoint  a  ministry  from  the  popular 
party.  •  The  king  of  Saxony  was  compelled  to  grant  the 
requests  of  his  subjects.  At  Munich,  the  capital  of 
Bavaria,  the  people  stormed  the  arsenal,  and  forced 
from  the  king  the  concessions  in  question.  The  elector 
of  Hesse-Cassel  yielded,  after  a  severe  conflict.  The 
king  of  Hanover  also  yielded,  when  he  saw  that  resist- 
ance would  have  cost  him  his  throne.  Frederick  William 
IV.,  of  Prussia,  vainly  and  foolishly  resisted  a  popular 
revolution  in  Berlin.  In  Vienna,  the  capital  of  Austria, 
the  citizens,  headed  by  the  students  of  the  University, 
sympathized  with  the  Parisians,  and  expressing  them- 
selves openly  upon  the  great  subject  of  reform,  pre- 
sented their  petition  for  a  constitutional  government,  a 
responsible  ministry,  liberty  of  the  press,  and  religious 
freedom.  After  a  formidable  struggle  in  Vienna,  during 
which  many  victims  fell,  the  Emperor  was  compelled, 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  .    447 

on  the  15th  of  March,  to  comply  with  the  demands  of 
the  people.  Also,  the  subjects  of  Ferdinand  II.,  king 
of  Naples  and  Sicily,  had  revolted  early  in  1848,  and 
their  request  for  a  constitution  was  granted.  That 
victory  which  had  followed  the  popular  commotions  of 
France  and  Grermany,  was  an  inducement  for  the  two 
southern  duchies  of  Denmark,  Schleswig  and  Hoist  em, 
to  revolt.  The  duke  of  Augustenburg  had  already 
long,  through  speeches  and  periodicals,  sown  that  seed 
of  resistance  and  discord  which  now  commenced  to 
break  out  into  acts  of  violence.  The  two  Duchies,  long, 
without  any  reason,  dissatisfied  with  the  Danish  rule, 
and  irritated  by  the  refusal  of  the  king  to  accede  to  any 
of  their  imperious  demands,  declared  the  new  ministry 
appointed  by  Frederick  VII.  hostile  to  their  privileges 
A.  d.,  and  themselves  independent  of  Denmark.  On 
1848-  the  24th  of  March,  1848,  a  message  was  written 
from  Rendsburg  to  Copenhagen :  "  Schleswig-Holstein 
twenty-four  hours  ago  became  an  independent  state, 
shook  off  the  Danish  yoke,  and  appointed  a  provisional 
government."  On  the  25th  of  March,  the  duke  of 
Augustenburg  arrived  in  Rendsburg,  where  the  provis- 
ional government  resided,  and  the  insurgents  assembled 
under  the  command  of  his  brother,  Prince  Frederick. 
On  the  26th  of  March,  there  was  written :  "  The  king 
of  Prussia  has  ordered  his  army  to  check  the  Danish 
troops,  if  they  make  their  appearance." 

The  king  of  Denmark,  Frederick  VIL,  of  course  not 


448  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

evincing  any  inclination  to  abate  his  pretensions  to  the 
Duchies,  guaranteed  him  by  England  and  France,  and 
decidedly  declining  the  admission  of  Schleswig  into  the 
Germanic  Confederation,  to  which  it  had  never  belonged, 
marched  his  army  into  Schleswig,  where  it  arrived  be- 
tween the  28th  and  29th  of  March,  under  the  command 
of  the  generals  Hedemann  and  Meza.  Meanwhile  Ger- 
man volunteers,  amongst  whom  were  many  enthusiastic 
young  students,  resorted  now  from  all  parts  of  Germany 
to  assist  the  rebellious  Duchies,  whose  interest  they 
joined.  The  first  battle  between  the  Danes  and  the 
Schleswig- Holsteiners  was  fought  at  Bau,  near  to  F lens- 
burg,  on  the  9th  of  April,  1848.  The  battle  was  a.  d., 
brief,  but  for  its  duration  sanguinary  enough;  1848- 
the  insurrectional  troops  were  entirely  routed,  and  eight 
hundred  prisoners  of  war  carried  to  Copenhagen.  From 
Prussia  numerous  troops  now  arrived,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Bonin,  declaring  that  any  attack  of  the 
Danish  army  on  the  Schleswig-Holsteiners  would  be 
regarded  a  declaration  of  war  against  Prussia,  a  d., 
Easter  Day,  23d  of  April,  1848,  eleven  thousand  1848- 
Danes,  while  preparing  to  attend  divine  service,  were 
unexpectedly  attacked  by  nineteen  thousand  Prussians, 
close  by  the  city  of  Schleswig.  The  combat  was  very 
obstinate  ;  the  Danes,  although  fighting  as  madmen,  and 
with  the  greatest  contempt  of  death,  were  defeated,  and 
General  Hedemann  had  to  yield  to  superior  numbers : 
but,  as  the  Roman  senate  formerly  thanked  Varro,  quia 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 


449 


de  republica  non  desperasset,  so  Frederick  VII.  rendered 
thanks  to  his  soldiers  for  that  bravery  they  had  display- 
ed at  Sohleswig — a  good  omen  of  future  success. 

Norway  and  Sweden  now  sided  with  the  Danes,  and 
two  thousand  Norwegians  and  Swedish  volunteers 
arrived  in  Schleswig,  to  join  the  Danish  army.  Shortly 
after  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Easter  Day,  the  Danes 
gained  a  glorious  victory  at  Diippel,  28th  of  May,  a.  d., 
over  the  Prussian  general,  Wrangel,  though  hav-  1848- 
ing  a  difficult  game  to  play — twelve  thousand  Danes 
against  sixteen  thousand  Prussians.  Proposals  of  medi- 
ation were  now  made  by  Russia,  which  sided  with  Den- 
mark, and  on  tne  26th  of  August  an  armistice  was 
A.D.,   agreed  on.     The  insurgents,    nevertheless,  con- 

1848.  tinuing  to  cherish  a  revolutionary  spirit,  and  the 
partisans  of  anarchy  taking  advantage  of  the  popular 

A.  d.,   excitement,  the  king  of  Denmark  declared,  26th 

1849.  0f  March,  the  armistice  invalid,  ordered  the  for- 
tress of  Fredericia  to  be  more  strongly  fortified,  and  his 
army  to  enforce  the  royal  authority,  and  prepared  to 
strike  a  decisive  blow  against  the  insurgents,  who  at 
first  gained  some  advantages  at  the  towns  of  Ulderup 
and  Kolding,  and  threw  a  strong  garrison  into  Frede- 
ricia, which  they  seized.  The  Danes,  seeing  that  no 
moment  was  to  be  lost,  determined  to  defy  the  whole 

A.  D.,  strength  of  the  insurgents,  and  on  the  6th  of  July 

1849-   the  Danish   army  attacked  the   Schleswig-Hol- 

steiners  at  Fredericia.     The  garrison  was  numerous,  tha 


4:50  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

resistance  obstinate,  and  the  insurgents  fought  as  lions  * 
but  the  Danish  artillery  made  so  dreadful  a  havoc  in  the 
hostile  line,  that  after  a  most  sanguinary  combat,  of 
more  than  eight  hours'  duration,  the  insurrectionary 
army  was  irretrievably  ruined  ;  six  hundred  of  their  best 
troops  were  left  dead  on  the  field,  and  two  thousand 
were  taken  prisoners.  The  Danes  lost  three  hundred 
men,  and  sixteen  hundred  severely  wounded,  but  had  to 
mourn  over  the  loss  of  Olaf  Rye,  a  native  of  Norway, 
one  of  their  most  gallant  officers. 

Prussia  having  more  seemingly  than  sincerely  assisted 
the  Schleswig-Holsteiners,  now  settled  (10th  of  a.p, 
July)  the  preliminaries  to  a  peace  with  Denmark,  1849- 
and  a  convention  of  truce,  pursuant  to  which  the  king 
of  Prussia  promised  to  withdraw  his  forces,  and  no  more 
to  act  in  concert  with  the  insurgents,  whose  affairs 
seemed  to  be  more  and  more  on  the  decline.  Their  chief 
leaders,  the  Duke  of  Augustenburg,  and  his  brother, 
Prince  Frederick  of  Noer,  to  the  latter  of  whom  the 
insurgents  had  committed  the  command  of  their  army, 
had,  in  a  military  point  of  view,  accomplished  very  little, 
Prince  Frederick  being  a  wretch  without  spirit,  courage, 
or  tactical  ability,  who,  after  the  lost  battle  of  Bau,  fled 
into  the  city  of  Flensburg,  narrowly  escaping  being  made 
prisoner ;  and  the  duke,  for  his  personal  safety,  select- 
ing the  securer  occupation  to  travel  round  to  fan  the 
flame  of  insurrection.  The  revolutionary  spirit  con- 
tinued,   and    Schleswig-Holstein    was    in    a   ferment 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  451 

Through  immense  exertions  the  insurgents  raised  an 
army  of  thirty  thousand  men  and  eighty-two  field-pieces, 
under  the  command  of  General  "Willison,  and  formed  a 
bold  plan  for  carrying  on  the  war  against  Denmark  ;  but 
the  end  of  the  mighty  power,  which  the  rebellious 
Duchies  had  tried  to  wield,  was  fast  approaching. 

As  it  was  impossible,  save  in  blood,  to  quench  the  re- 
volutionary spirit,  and  compel  the  Duchies  into  subjec- 
tion to  their  hereditary  monarch,  Frederick  VII.  ordered 
an  army  of  thirty-eight  thousand  men  and  ninety-six 
great  guns,   to  march  out  of  the  camp  under  the  com- 
mand of  the   noble  and    undaunted   warrior,   Greneral 
A.  d..  Krogh,  and  the  brave  Assistant- Greneral,  Schlep* 
i860.    pegrei     On  the  13th  of  July,  1850,  the  rebel 
troops  crossed  the  Eider  river,   frequently  skirmishing 
a.  D.,   with  the  Dane,s,  until,  on  the  24th  of  July,  the 
1850.    royal  army  gained,  at  the  town  of  Idsted,  the 
most  brilliant  victory  that  had  been  obtained  during  the 
war,  over  the  united  forces  of  the  Schleswig-Holsteiners. 
This  dreadful  battle,  lasting  two  days  without  intermis- 
sion, and  attended  with  a  most  cruel  carnage,  cost  Den- 
mark three  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-seven  men 
and  one  hundred    and    forty  officers;    amongst  whom 
were  the  magnanimous  Greneral  Schleppegrel,  and  the 
skillful  tactician,  Colonel  Laessoe. 

The  insurgents  were,  however,  not  yet  tranquilized, 
but,  to  the  inexpressible  astonishment  of  every  one, 
formed  a  new  plan  for  the  destruction  of  the  Danes     On 


4:52  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

A<  d.,   the  29th  of  September,  1850,  they  laid  a  terrible 
1850.    siege  to  the  city  of  Frederickstad,  situated  on 
the  Eider.     Through  five  days  they  showered  fire-balls 
upon  the  unfortunate  town,  and  vast  clouds  of  smoke 
arose  in  awful  sublimity  over  the  bloody  scene,  until 
the  Danish  artillery,  commanded  by  the  courageous  Nor- 
wegian, General  Helgesen,  after  having  made  a  most 
dreadful  havoc  amongst  the  insurgents,  compelled  them 
a.  d.,  to  raise  the  siege  and  order  a  retreat.     Finally, 
185L   next  year,  on  the  1st  of  February,  1851,  after 
almost  one  continued  battle  of  three  years,  the  insurrec- 
tion ceased,  the  royal  authority  and  the  whole  state  thus 
again  being  considered  re-established. 

But  the  turmoil  of  the  war  had  not  diverted  the  new 
ministry's  attention  from  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
country.  The  free  constitution,  which  the  king  had 
promised  his  subjects,  had  been  elaborated  and  finished, 
to  which,  on  the  5th  of  June,  1849,  the  royal  signature 
was  affixed ;  and  the  same  year  the  possessions  on  the 
coast  of  Guinea,  proving  unprofitable  to  Denmark,  were 
disposed  of  to  England  for  the  amount  of  ten  thousand 
pounds  sterling. 

Frederick  VIT.  having,  when  crown-prince,  been  twice 
married — first  to  the  Danish  princess,  Wilhelminn, 
daughter  of  king  Frederick  VI.,  and  then  to  princess 
Caroline  Charlotte  Mariane,  daughter  of  the  grand  duke 
of  Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  but  on  account  of  domestio 
disagreement,  divorced  from  both  of  them — was,  7th  of 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 


453 


August,  1850,  bv  the  bishop,  Dr.  Mynster,  solemnly 
joined  in  a  morganatic  marriage  to  Louise  Christine, 
Countess  of  Danner,  nee  Miss  Rasmussen.  She  had 
for  some  years  back,  kept  a  millinery  shop  in  Copen- 
hagen. 

The  insurrection  having  been  crushed  (1st  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1851),  the  cessation  of  hostilities  taken  place, 
and  the  king  of  Denmark  thus  having  regained  his 
authority  over  the  Duchies,  a  treaty  was  concluded  in 
London,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1852,  between  a.  d., 
Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  England,  Austria,  1862- 
France,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  which  yet  more  firmly 
than  before  by  the  peace  of  Fredericksborg  in  1720, 
guaranteed  the  integrity  of  the  Danish  monarchy. 
The  line  of  Augustenburg  was  set  aside  because  of  the 
duke's  treacherous  conduct,  and  the  succession  to  the 
crown  of  Denmark,  and  to  the  ducal  dignity  of  the  three 
duchies, — Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Lauenburg, — settled 
on  the  loyal  Prince  Christian,  of  the  Sonderburg-Gliicks- 
burg  line,  and  his  male  heirs,  upon  whom  in  the  next 
year,  1853,  according  to  a  law  passed  in  the  diet  and 
subscribed  to  by  the  king  himself,  the  title  of  Prince  of 
Denmark  was  conferred,  his  civil  list  being  fixed  to  the 
amount  of  50,000  rix-dollars  annually.  Though  a  recon- 
ciliation was  thus  established,  the  revolutionary  spirit 
still  fermented  in  the  minds  of  the  Schleswig-Holstemers, 
waiting  only  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  break  out  into 
a  new  rebellion.   The  perfidious  Duke  of  Augustenburg,  of 


454:  HISTORY     OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

course,  deprived  of  his  ducal  possessions,  and  now  an  exile 
traveling  round  in  Europe  with  the  stigma  of  Judas  Is- 
cariot  on  his  forehead,  is  still  fanning  the  flame  of  re- 
bellion ;  and  what  the  future  conceals  in  its  bosom  He 
only  knows,  who,  as  David  sings,  "shall  strike  through 
kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath,  and  turn  their  hearts 
whithersoever  he  will." 

An  event  of  no  ordinary  importance  to  Denmark  took 
place  March  10,  1863,  when  the  Danish  princess  a.  d., 
Alexandra  Caroline  Mary  Charlotte  Louise  Julia,  1863« 
born  in  Copenhagen  December  1,  1844,  daughter  of  the 
intelligent  and  refined  Prince  •Christian  of  Gliicksburg, 
proclaimed  Prince  of  Denmark  July  31,  1853,  was  mar- 
ried to  Albert  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  the  heir-appa- 
rent to  the  throne  of  England.  February  26,  the  young 
and  amiable  princess  left  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  where 
her  infant  years  had  been  watched  by  parental  care,  to 
become  the  wife  of  the  future  king  of  Great  Britain, 
accompanied  by  the  warmest  wishes  of  the  whole  Danish 
nation  for  cloudless  days  in  the  illustrious  country  of  her 
adoption;  and  on  the  momentous  10th  of  March,  which 
bound  them  together  for  better  and  for  worse,  fervent 
orisons  to  the  royal  throne  of  mercy  went  forth  from  the 
king's  costly  palace,  from  the  nobleman's  stately  manor, 
from  the  clergyman's  quiet  parsonage,  and  from  the 
thatch-covered  cot  of  the  poorest  husbandman,  for  bless- 
ings to  be  vouchsafed  to  this  union.  The  magnificent 
and  hearty  reception  which  the  Danish  princess  had  in 
England  could  but  immediately  convince  her  that  she 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  £55 

was  already  the  darling  of  this  great  nation,  that  they 
cherished  her  as  the  apple  of  their  eye,  and  that  they 
united  in  prayers  for  Heaven's  blessings  on  her  bridal 
contract.  And  that  such  a  benison  will  be  bestowed, 
and  that  the  union  of  Albert  Edward  and  Alexandra 
will  be  as  peerless  in  bliss  as  in  splendor,  all  Britons 
seem  to  be  glad  both  to  hope  and  to  believe. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  1863,  King  Frederick  VII. 
died  from  erysipelas.  By  his  mildness  of  temper  and 
decision  of  character,  and  by  his  readiness  to  identify 
himself  with  the  nation,  he  had  gained  the  attachment 
and  respect  of  his  subjects,  who  with  heartfelt  grief  re- 
ceived the  sad  intelligence  of  the  sudden  termination  of 
his  earthly  career.  Frederick  VII.  dying  without  issue, 
the  throne  of  Denmark  devolved,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty 
of  1852,  and  of  the  law  of  1853,  to  Prince  Christian, 
the  father  of  the  Princess  of  Wales  and  the  new  King 
of  Greece,  who  immediately  was  proclaimed  King  of 
Denmark,  and  Duke  of  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Lauen- 
burg,  under  the  name  of  Christian  IX.,  whose  national 
mind  and  clear  intellect  will,  no  doubt,  easily  enable  him 
to  redeem  the  expectations  of  his  subjects,  and  maul} 
and  justly  to  encounter  every  contingency.  He  began 
his  reign  with  the  menace  of  a  second  "  occupation  " 
impending  over  the  southern  provinces  of  his  kingdom. 
"  May  the  cloud  hanging  over  him  be  dispelled  !" 

This  was  the  prayer  of  the  whole  kingdom.  But, 
alas!    alas!    the   cloud    was    not   dispelled,   but    war 


456  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

gathering  blacker  and  blacker,  and  the  so-called  second 
Sleswick-Holstein  war  commenced.  And  here  is  the 
proper  place,  I  think,  to  take  a  retrospective  view  of 
this  intricate  controversial  point,  and  to  bring  together 
all  the  feeble  and  scattered  rays  which  may  throw  any 
light  upon  it,  serve  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion,  and 
view  the  whole  question  in  its  naked  reality. 

The  history  of  the  two  dukedoms — Sleswiek  and 
Holstein — is  like  the  history  of  human  achievements,  a 
history  of  great  results  from  small  beginnings.  For 
centuries  Sleswiek  has  been  subject  to  the  rule  of  the 
Danish  kings.  Sleswiek  was  anciently  called  Anglia, 
held  as  a  Danish  province  of  the  Danish  Crown,  ruled 
according  to  the  code  of  the  Jutland  law-book,  given  by 
the  Danish  king,  Waldemar  the  Second,  in  the  year 
1239,  up  to  this  very  day,  an  almost  entire  Danish- 
speaking  province,  with  the  exception  of  the  southern 
districts,  where  only  German  is  spoken,  and  considered 
by  all  European  Powers  and  treaties  an  inseparable  part 
of  the  Danish  body.  Holstein,  anciently  called  North- 
albingia,  being,  it  is  true,  a  male  lief  of  the  German  em- 
pire, was  at  times  subject  to  the  Danish  kings  as  Counts 
of  Holstein,  at  other  times  to  counts  independent  of 
Denmark,  until  the  year  1459,  a.d.,  when  the  Danish 
king  and  his  successors'  male  descendants  were  elected 
Dukes  of  Holstein,  an  election  ratified  by  the  German 
Emperor,  Frederick  the  Third,  who  then,  upon  the 
request  of  the  Danish  King,  Christian  the  First,  elevated 

2  f  3 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  457 

Holstein  from  an  earldom  to  a  dukedom.  Violently  to 
wrest  these  two  provinces  from  the  Crown  of  Denmark, 
to  annex  the  entire  Danish  province,  Sleswick,  to  the 
German  Confederacy,  to  which  it  has  never  belonged ; 
and  by  its  close  annexation  to  Holstein,  to  create  a  large 
so  called  Sleswick-Holstein  Dukedom,  which  was  to  be 
entirely  severed  from  the  Danish  Crown,  for  all  time  to 
come,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  object  of  the  scandalous 
crusade  waged  against  Denmark  in  1848,  and  the  two 
subsequent  years,  by  the  treacherous  Duke  of  Augusten- 
burg,  the  ringleader  of  the  rebellion,  and  supported 
well  nigh  by  all  Germany.  The  knavish  duke,  though 
nearly  related  to  the  Royal  Danish  house,  and  having 
sworn  the  usual  allegiance  to  the  Danish  king,  had 
already  long— through  a  host  of  periodicals,  in  which 
stupendous  lies,  gibings,  and  mockeries  were  summed 
up,  the  most  unerring  arrows  in  the  hands  of  revolu- 
tionists at  every  era,  sown  that  seed  of  discord,  which 
now  commenced  to  break  out  into  acts  of  violence. 
This  ungodly  crusade  was,  however,  crushed  by  the  un- 
daunted bravery  and  perseverance  of  the  Danes,  and 
resulted  in  the  maintenance  of  Denmark's  independence, 
nationality  and  ancient  territories,  the  result  thus  prov- 
ing that  the  Danes,  only  a  handful  of  people  when  com- 
pared with  all  Germany,  had  not  degenerated  from  the 
well-known  bravery,  constancy,  and  intrepid  spirit  of 
tneir  fearless  ancestors,  the  grim-visaged  Seakings  and 
bearded  Vikings,  the  result  at  the  same  time  confirming 


4:58  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

the  truth  of  the  words  of  the  royal  sage  of  Israel,  that 
the  battle  is  not  always  to  the  strong,  but  to  whomsoever 
the  Lord  willeth  to  exalt.  But  a  new  crusade  from  Ger- 
many, based  upon  the  same  villainous  principles  as  the 
former  one,  recommenced,  at  the  close  of  1863,  to 
threaten  Denmark's  integrity  and  nationality,  and  con- 
summated, this  time,  I  grieve  to  say,  its  nefarious 
designs.  Little  Denmark,  being  rendered  no  assistance 
from  her  allies,  and  although  wont  to  defend  herself 
bravely  against  two,  and  not  yield  to  three,  as  the  old 
sagas  tell,  could  not  withstand  the  innumerable  com- 
pany of  Prussians  and  Austrians  inundating  the  Danish 
dominions,  and  committing  the  most  merciless  devasta- 
tions and  cruelties. 

But  I  now  propose  to  enter  upon  the  survey  of  the 
merits  of  this  intricate  historical  question,  and  to  let 
history  speak  somewhat  in  detail ;  and  an  intelligent 
reader  may  judge  for  himself.  However,  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  give  a  sketch  of  these  two  disputed  pro- 
vinces, before  the  dawn  of  authentic  history,  as  I  would 
then  be  obliged  to  cite  a  number  of  hypotheses,  that, 
after  all,  would  prove  inconclusive.  Charlemagne  had 
with  violence  compelled  the  Holsteiners,  then  called 
Saxons,  to  embrace  Christianity,  and  thus  deprived  the 
people  of  its  independence.  But  the  daring  and  efficient 
God/red,  King  of  Denmark,  protected  Holstein,  and 
commenced  war.  Making  large  progress,  and  even 
threatening  to  visit  Charlemagne  in  his  residence,  Aix- 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  459 

la-Chapelle,  the  Emperor  was  happy  enough  to  get  rid  of 
that  intelligent  and  brave  enemy — Godfred,  unfor- 
tunately, being  treacherously  killed  by  one  of  his  own 
people.  His  successor,  Hemming,  made  peace  with 
Charlemagne  in  the  year  811,  by  which  peace  the  river 
Eider,  which  separates  Sleswick  from  Holstein,  was 
appointed  the  limit  between  Denmark  and  Germany ; 
and  in  the  year  920,  Thyra  Dannebod,  the  queen  of  the 
Danish  king,  Gorm  the  Old,  founded  the  celebrated 
DannevirJce,  a  fortified  wall  of  earth  and  stones  across 
Sleswick,  strengthened  by  moats  and  toAver  bastions,  to 
protect  Denmark  against  inroads  of  the  Germans.  The 
aforesaid  Godfred  had  erected  a  similar  fortification, 
called  Kurvirke ;  but  the  invasion  of  the  German  Em- 
peror, Henry  the  Fowler,  had  proved  that  Denmark 
needed  a  stronger  bulwark,  wherefore  the  queen,  Thyra, 
erected  the  famous  Dannevirke.  But,  Sleswick  border- 
ing on  Germany,  the  German  emperors  were  continually 
eager  of  getting  possession  of  this  fertile  province,  when 
finally  in  the  year  1026,  Canute  the  Great,  King  of 
Denmark  and  England,  visited  the  Emperor  Conrad  the 
Second,  and  induced  him  to  renounce  both  for  himself 
and  his  successors,  all  future  claim  to  the  Margraviate 
of  Sleswick,  as  it  then  was  termed.  Jn  the  twelfth 
century  Sleswick  was  mercilessly  dealt  with  by  the 
Venders  or  Vandalians — a  rapacious  set  of  pirates  occupy- 
ing the  coast  of  the  Baltic,  right  from  Denmark  up  to 
the  Gulf  of  Finland — till  at  length  the  warlike  Danish 


4(50  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

prince,  Canute  Lavard,  a  son  of  the  Danish  king,  Eric 
the  Good,  conquered  the  Venders,  and  not  only  secured 
the  Margraviate  of  Sleswick  to  the  Crown  of  Denmark, 
but  prevailed  upon  the  German  emperor,  who  by  virtue 
of  his  dignity  as  Roman  emperor,  was  acknowledged 
the  secular  head  of  the  whole  Christian  world,  to  elevate 
Sleswick  to  a  dukedom  ;  and  Canute  procured  for  him- 
self the  dignity  of  a  duke,  and  the  ducal  dignity  of 
Sleswick  has  since  invariably  been  invested,  either  in 
the  Danish  king  himself,  or  in  whomsoever  of  his  rela- 
tives he  was  pleased  to  invest  it,  the  dukes,  of  course, 
always  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Danish 
Crown.*  Thus  the  Danish  king,  Canute  VI.,  made  his 
brother  Waldemar  Duke  of  Sleswick ;  Eric  Ploughpence 
made  his  brother  Abel  Duke  of  Sleswick,  and  so  forth. 
Nevertheless,  this  system  of  dividing  Sleswick  amongst 
the  king's  brethren  or  relatives,  a  system  adopted  and 
adhered  to  for  a  long  series  of  years,  was  pregnant  with 
the  most  ruinous  consequences  to  the  solid  interests  of 
the  Danish  body,  contributing  very  much  to  the 
diminishing  of  the  royal  power ;  for  Abel,  recently  men- 
tioned, and  his  successors,  tried  now  to  make  Sleswick 
an  hereditary  and  independent  possession  in  their  family, 
all  of  which  resulted  in  a  series  of  destructive  internal 
wars,  Sleswick  thereby  more  and  more  being  alienated 
from  the  kingdom.  Abel  soon  assumed  a  hostile  posi- 
tion to  his  brother  Eric,  the  king,  the   more,   as  he 

*  See  Suhm's  and  Allen's  History  of  Denmark  and  the  Duchies 
Royal  Library  of  Copenhagen. 


HISTOKY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 


461 


claimed  the  Dukedom  of  Sleswick  as  an  independent 
sovereignty.  Abel  assassinated  the  king,  who  left  no 
male  issue ;  and  the  States,  though  detesting  Abel  on 
account  of  the  unnatural  crime  he  had  committed,  chose 
him  king,  to  avoid  a  civil  war.  By  this  means  they  also 
indisputably  reunited  Sleswick  to  the  Crown ;  and,  had 
the  royalty  remained  in  Abel's  family,  Sleswick  would, 
of  course,  have  been  with  the  Crown,  and  all  future 
contests  prevented.  But  Christopher  J.,  the  third  son  of 
Waldemar  the  Victor,  was  happy  enough,  after  AbePs 
death,  immediately  to  be  acknowledged  king ;  although 
the  throne  was  promised  to  Abel's  sons,  Waldemar  and 
Eric.  Both  parties  exerted  all  their  power  to  gain  the 
ascendancy.  The  king  encompassed  Sleswick  with  his 
army,  and  claimed  as  uncle  the  guardianship  of  Abel's 
children,  whom  the  mighty  counts  of  Holstein  supported. 
Seasonably  for  the  king,  some  German  princes  offered 
their  mediation,  a  peace  being  concluded  on  these  terms, 
that  Christopher,  the  king,  should  have  the  guardian- 
ship, but  restore  the  dukedom  of  Sleswick  as  a  fief  to 
Waldemar,  the  eldest  son  of  Abel,  when  he  had  attained 
his  majority.  After  the  demise  of  this  Waldemar,  the 
kingdom  was  soon  alarmed  by  a  dangerous  irruption  of 
Eric,  the  second  son  of  Abel,  because  the  then  King  of 
Denmark,  Eric  Glipping,  would  not  comply  with  giving 
him  Sleswick  as  an  hereditary  fief,  but  only  as  a  per- 
sonal. The  young  preposterous  claimant,  assisted  by 
the  Counts  of  Holstein,  commenced  a  war,  in  which  the 


4:62  HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

royal  troops  were  totally  defeated  at  Loheath,  1261,  close 
by  the   city  of  Sleswick.      The  king  re-entered   the 
dukedom  with  a  powerful  army,  seized  upon  the  fortress 
of  Tonder,  which  he  razed,  and  constrained  the  rebellious 
duke  to  submit,  who  lost  his  dukedom ;  and  .Sleswick 
remained  for  thirteen  years  united  with  the  kingdom, 
until  unfortunately  again  Waldemar,  a  son  of  the  rebel- 
lious Eric,  was,  according  to  the  aforesaid  ruinous  system 
of  division,  invested  with  Sleswick  as  a  fief.     But,  not 
content  with  it,  he  now  also  laid  claim  to  Aro,  Alsen, 
Femern,  three  islands  in  the  Baltic.  He  fell,  however,  into 
the  hands  of  the  king,  had  humbly  to  throw  himself  at  his 
feet,  resign  his  brazen-faced  claim,  and  confess  in  writing 
to  his  want  of  loyalty.     Thus  Denmark  had  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  been  the  theatre  of  continual  domestic  wars 
with  the  rebellious  dukes.     In  the  year  1372,  there  was 
a  good   prospect  of  getting  the  dukedom  of  Sleswick 
reunited  with  the  kingdom,  as  Henry,  the  then  Duke  of 
Sleswick,  was  old  and  childless.     Upon  this  important 
point,  the  efficient  king,  Waldemar  IV.,  directed  all  his 
attention ;  but  he  only  survived  Henry  so  short  a  time, 
that  the  question  could  not  be  decided,  but  had  to  be 
deferred  to  the   following  reign.      The   great   Queen 
Margaretha,  the  daughter  of  Waldemar  IV.,  styled  the 
Semiramis  of  the  North,  now  ascended  the  throne,  and 
aimed   all  her  efforts    at   regaining  the   dukedom   of 
Sleswick,  which  circumstances  had    compelled  her  in 
the  beginning  of  her  reign  to  resign  to  Gerhard  IV., 


HISTOKY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  463 

Count  of  Holstein.  But  the  prosecution  of  her  plan 
for  the  perfect  reunion  of  Sleswick  was  unfortunately 
interrupted  by  her  death,  1412  ;  and  her  imprudent  and 
weak  successor,  Eric  of  Pomerania,  had  no  vigour  of 
mind  to  restrain  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the  three  sons 
of  the  deceased  duke,  who,  taking  advantage  of  his 
inability,  endeavoured  to  withdraw  themselves  from  his 
authority,  and  to  be  enfeoffed  with  Sleswick.  At  the 
diet  of  Nyburg,  in  the  isle  of  Funen,  the  king  sum- 
moned the  young  dukes  to  appear,  and  opened  the  assem- 
bly himself  with  a  full  explanation  of  the  dispute.  When 
he  had  finished  his  speech,  the  Archbishop,  in  a  fulmina- 
ting harangue,  declared  that  the  dukes  had  no  right 
whatever  to  be  enfeoffed  with  Sleswick,  but  that  it 
should  be  annexed  to  the  Crown  of  Denmark.  No 
sooner  had  the  archbishop  pronounced  this  sentence, 
than  the  eldest  son  of  the  deceased  duke,  Gerhard,  threw 
himself  at  the  king's  feet,  and  besought  him  to  grant 
the  investiture  of  the  dukedom  as  a  fief.  The  king's 
reply  was  in  the  negative.  The  three  young  dukes  now 
began  to  concert  measures  for  taking  it  by  force ;  and, 
although  Eric  of  Pomerania  had  the  military  power  of 
three  kingdoms — Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  at 
command,  he  was  defeated  near  Immervad,  in  Sleswick. 
Although  this  defeat  did  not  terminate  the  war,  it  pro- 
duced a  truce,  in  order  to  settle  preliminaries  for  a  peace. 
Umpires  were  chosen,  and  the  whole  question  was  again 
canvassed.     The  young  dukes   embraced  every  oppor- 


464  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

tunity  to  frustrate  the  intention  of  the  truce,  and  chose 
to  decide  the  difference  by  the  sword.  The  king,  per- 
ceiving their  aim,  now  took  the  course  of  appealing  to 
the  German  emperor,  Sigismund,  and  repaired  to  Ofen, 
Hungary,  where  the  emperor  then  resided.  Construing 
the  appeal  in  favour  of  the  king,  the  emperor  declared 
that  all  Sleswick  should  henceforward  be  annexed  in  full 
right  to  the  Crown  of  Denmark,  and  that  the  dukes, 
Henry,  Adolphus,  and  Gerhard,  had,  by  their  rebellious 
conduct,  divested  themselves  of  their  rights  to  Sleswick. 
The  king  now  believing  the  whole  dispute  to  be  settled, 
resolved  upon  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine.  But  after 
returning  he  found  the  ancient  leaven  of  contest  revived, 
and  violently  fermenting  in  the  minds  of  the  dukes,  who, 
making  alliance  with  the  Hanse  towns,  a  mighty  league 
in  the  northern  part  of  Germany,  continued  the  war ; 
and,  although  Eric  collected  all  his  strength  to  oppose 
the  dukes,  and  even  gained  a  complete  victory  over  the 
Hanse  fleet,  yet  at  last  the  dukes  got  the  better  of  him, 
and  weakened  the  kingdom  by  the  most  destructive 
ravages.  However,  their  attempts  to  seize  upon 
Copenhagen  failed,  the  city  being  saved  by  the  bravery 
and  intelligent  preparations  of  Eric's  queen  Philippa,  a 
daughter  of  Henry  V.  of  England.  At  length  the  war 
with  the  Danes  was  ended  by  the  treaty  of  Wordingburg, 
in  the  isle  of  Zealand,  1435.  a.d.,  by  which  Adolphus, 
the  only  one  yet  alive,  should  enjoy,  during  his  life,  the 
dukedom  of  Sleswick,  and  his  heirs,  for  two  years  after 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  465 

his  decease,  Denmark  thus  again  being  dispossessed  of 
Sleswick.  Finally  a  surer  prospect  than  ever  before  of 
reuniting  Sleswick  permanently  with  the  kingdom,  and 
thus  of  terminating  the  incessant  contests,  presented 
itself  at  the  death  of  this  Adolphus,  called  Adolphus 
VIII. ,  who  died  without  issue,  1459.  But  Christian  L> 
then  King  of  Denmark,  the  first  king  of  the  House  of 
Oldenburg,  instead  of  incorporating  Sleswick  as  an 
escheated  fief,  very  unwisely  engaged  himself  in  negotia- 
tions with  ihe  nobility  and  clergy  to  be  elected  Duke  of 
Sleswick  and  Count  of  Holstein,  to  which  latter,  how- 
ever, Otho,  of  Schaumburg,  was  more  entitled ;  where- 
fore the  Danish  king  had  to  purchase  Holstein  for  the 
sum  of  43,000  florins,  and  to  buy  off  the  pretensions  of 
Gerhard  and  Maurice,  nephews  of  the  late  Adolphus, 
for  an  equivalent  of  40,000  florins.  Thus  Christian  L 
became  Count  of  Holstein,  which  now  the  German  em- 
peror, upon  the  king's  request,  elevated  to  a  dukedom, 
the  representatives  of  the  political  body  of  Holstein 
binding  themselves  to  choose  their  following  dukes 
amongst  the  Danish  kings  and  their  successors'  male 
heirs,  according  to  the  Salic  law.  This  year  1459  is, 
therefore,  an  essential  year  in  the  history  of  Denmark 
and  the  dukedom  of  Holstein,  the  stipulation  showing 
that  the  kings  of  Denmark  should  be  dukes  of  Holstein, 
as  long  as  they  left  male  issue.  Of  Sleswick  not  one 
word  was  spoken  in  this  stipulation,  it  being  regarded 
for  centuries  back  as  pertaining  to  the  Danish  body. 


406  HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

One  should  now  think  that  the  ruinous  consequences 
which  the  system  of  dividing  Sleswick  among  the 
king's  brethren  and  relatives  had  had,  would  have 
taught  the  following  kings  a  lesson ;  but  no,  they  all 
seem  to  have  been  blindfolded  and  deaf  to  the  lessons  of 
experience,  for  Christian  III.  undertook,  1557,  a  new 
division  amongst  his  brethren,  although  the  old  and 
expert  general,  John  Ranzaw,  strongly  advised  against 
this  imprudent  step.  His  son,  Frederic  II,  continued 
the  fatal  division,  and  so  it  went  on.  Owing  to  these 
divisions  and  parties,  the  affairs  in  Sleswick  continued 
to  take  a  disastrous  turn  for  Denmark,  and  occasioned 
sanguinary  national  wars,  the  king  often  not  knowing 
how  to  keep  the  rebellious  dukes  within  due  bounds. 

At  length  all  controversy  concerning  Sleswick  was 
brought  to  a  close  by  the  treaty  of  1720,  when  Sweden, 
who  had  sided  with  the  then  rebellious  duke,  Frederick, 
pledged  herself  no  more  to  assist  the  duke,  and  England 
and  France  guaranteed  to  Denmark  the  dukedom  of 
Sleswick,  binding  themselves  to  defend  Denmark's 
right  to  this  entire  Danish  province  against  all  who 
directly  or  indirectly  should  dare  to  invade  it.  And 
seven  years  after,  1727,  a  special  treaty  was  signed  by 
the  two  powers,  England  and  France,  to  which  Russia 
acceded,  binding  themselves  to  oppose  by  an  armed  force, 
by  sea  and  by  land,  all  and  sundry  the  powers  ivho  should 
dare  attack  the  Danish  dukedom  of  Sleswick.  As  to 
Holstein,  being  a  male  fief  of  the  German  empire,  it 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  467 

had,  of  course,  its  final  court  of  appeal  in  Germany;  while 
Sleswick,  held  of  the  Danish  crown  as  a  Danish  province, 
was  never  called  to  a  German  diet,  and  in  law  questions 
the  appeal  has  invariably  been  to  its  own  Supreme 
Court.  Hence  it  follows  that  Holstein  is  a  German 
province,  but  whose  duke  is,  according  to  the  stipulation 
of  1459,  above  stated,  the  king  of  Denmark  and  his 
male  heirs.  Various  changes,  however,  took  place  in 
the  sequel^  in  consequence  of  the  division  of  the  ducal 
Holstein  families  into  different  branches,  and  the  sub- 
sequent extinction  of  collateral  lines ;  and  it  was  not 
before  the  year  1750,  that  all  Holstein  came  per- 
manently under  the  Danish  sway,  when  Adolphus 
Frederick,  the  elected  successor  to  the  Swedish  throne, 
and  the  head  of  the  younger  line  of  the  dukes  of  Hol- 
stein, engaged  himself  to  exchange  the  ducal  part  of 
Holstein  for  the  two  counties  of  Oldenburg  and  Del- 
menhorst,  Denmark  thereby  coming  into  an  undivided 
possession  of  Holstein.  Some  years  after,  1779,  a.d., 
the  Gliicksburg  possessions  of  Sleswick,  at  the  death  of 
the  last  duke,  devolved  by  inheritance  to  the  Danish 
crown,  and  all  the  small  parcels  of  Sleswick,  which  by 
earlier  division  had  been  separated  from  the  crown,  were 
re-united  to  it,  except  the  possessions  of  the  duke  of 
Augustenburg,  which  remained  in  his  family  as  allodial 
estates.  As  duke  of  Holstein,  the  king  of  Denmark 
had  a  seat  in  the  German  diet ;  but  on  the  dissolution 
of  the  German  empire,  1806,  that  feudal  obligation,  in 


468  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

which  Holstein  had  been  to  the  German  emperor,  ceased, 
and  Holstein  was  incorporated  as  a  part  of  the  Danish 
monarchy.  However,  on  the  formation  of  the  German 
Confederacy  in  the  year  1815,  at  the  General  Congress 
of  the  allied  powers  at  Vienna,  the  king  of  Denmark, 
Frederick  VI.,  was  present,  and  subscribed  there  to  the 
re-incorporation  of  Holstein  into  the  Germanic  Con- 
federation, upon  condition  that  he  and  his  male  heirs 
should  continue  to  be  dukes  of  Holstein,  and  as  such  be 
members  of  the  confederacy,  having  three  votes  in  the 
full  Council,  and  binding  themselves,  if  need  be,  to  fur- 
nish a  contingent  of  3,600  men,  and  to  rule  Holstein  as 
a  male  fief  of  Germany,  according  to  its  peculiar  German 
laws,  all  of  which  that  noble  and  simple-hearted  monarch 
faithfully  fulfilled,  no  complaints  of  oppression  being 
ever  made  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  dukedom.  At  the 
Congress  at  Vienna,  no  single  syllable  was  spoken 
of  Sleswick,  it  being  considered  an  entire  Danish 
province,  and  an  inseparable  part  of  the  Danish 
monarchy. 

Since  the  Congress  of  1815,  the  peace  of  Denmark 
was  not  disturbed  till  1848,  when  the  treacherous  duke 
of  Augustenburg — the  only  surviving  lineal  descendant 
of  the  dukes  of  Sleswick,  and  brother  of  the  queen- 
dowager  of  Denmark — revolutionized  the  two  dukedoms, 
and  tried  to  shake  off  the  Danish  yoke,  as  he  was  pleased 
to  call  it,  and  erect  for  himself  an  independent  Sleswick- 
Hohtein  state.     That  victory  which  in  the  beginning  of 


HISTORY  OF   SCANDINAVIA.  469 

1848  had  followed  the  popular  commotions  of  France 
and  Germany,  was  a  bait  for  him  to  induce  the  duke- 
doms to  revolt.  A  sanguinary  three  years'  war  was 
waged  against  Denmark,  the  insurgents  being  aided  by 
more  than  20,000  Prussians  and  Hanoverians.  What 
did  England  do  ?  Did  she  act  according  to  the  great 
covenants  of  1720  and  1727?  "All  the  time  it  was 
said" — writes  the  able  English  historian,  Mr.  Laing — 
"  England  is  negotiating  !  Mirabile  dictu!  What  was 
there  to  negotiate  about  ?  Negotiating  !  while  she  was 
bound  by  sacred  treaties  to  protect  the  dukedom  of 
Schleswig  from  all  invasion."  Erance  acted  no  better. 
Russia  was  the  only  power  which  did  something  to  vin- 
dicate Denmark's  right.  Little  Denmark  had  to  do  it 
almost  alone,  and  struggled  hard,  but  successfully,  to 
maintain  her  integrity.  England  and  Erance  remained 
quiet  beholders  of  all  the  innocent  blood  that  manured 
the  fields  of  Fredericia,  Duppel,  Idsted,  and  so  on. 
Denmark  had,  I  repeat  it,  to  do  it  alone ;  did  it,  defeated 
the  insurgents  and  the  German  troops  almost  in 
every  engagement,  crushed  the  rebellion,  regained  the 
authority  over  the  dukedoms, '  and  May  8th,  1852,  a 
treaty,  generally  called  the  London  Protocol,  was  con- 
cluded in  London  between  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden, 
England,  France,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  guaranteeing 
the  integrity  of  the  Danish  monarchy,  setting  aside  the 
line  of  Augustenburg,  because  of  the  duke's  treacherous 
conduct,  and  settling  the  succession  to  the  crown  o 


470 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA. 


Denmark  and  to  the  ducal  dignity  of  the  dukedoms 
upon  the  loyal  Prince  Christian,  of  the  Sonderburg- 
Gliicksburg  line,  and  his  male  heirs. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  1863,  the  king  of  Den- 
mark died  without  issue  ;  the  throne,  according  to  the 
aforesaid  London  Protocol  of  1852,  devolving  to  Prince 
Christian,  who  immediately  was  proclaimed  king  of 
Denmark  and  duke  of  Sleswick  and  Holstein,  under 
the  name  of  Christian  the  Ninth.  But  I  must  bestow  a 
few  words  more  upon  Prince  Christian,  the  present 
king,  the  father  of  the  Princess  of  Wales,  and  also  some 
upon  the  crafty  Duke  of  Augustenburg,  and  my 
words  concerning  them  I  quote  from  the  Edinburgh 
Review.  They  are  too  true  and  too  good  to  be  omitted 
here. 

"  The  Prince  Christian  of  Gliicksburg,  as  a  descendant 
of  Christian  III.,  stood  high  in  the  male  succession,  and 
most  of  them  who  stood  before  him  had  been  guilty  oj 
treason  in  4848,  and  had  rendered  themselves  liable  to  for- 
feiture of  all  their  rights.  Accordingly,  renunciations  were 
obtained  from  Prince  Frederick  of  Hesse,  from  his  sisters, 
from  the  emperor  of  Russia,  and,  finally,  from  the  duke  of 
Augustenburg  himself,  who,  of  course,  had  fled  the  country. 
For  this,  and  for  the  cession  of  all  claims  to  his  estates, 
which  were  of  small  value  to  him,  as  he  had  forfeited  them 
by  his  rebellion,  he  received  a  sum  of  rather  more  than 
£400,000  sterling.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the 
Prussian  plenipotentiary  at  Frankfort,  who  negotiated  this 

2  G 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  471 

renunciation  with  the  duke  of  Augustenburg,  was  Herr  von 
Bismark.  In  consideration  of  this  enormous  indemnity, 
the  duke  made  the  following  promise  : — 

"  c  We  promise  for  us  and  our  family,  by  our  princely 
word  and  honour,  not  to  undertake  anything  whereby  the 
tranquillity  of  His  Danish  Majesty's  dominion  and  lands 
might  be  disturbed,  nor  in  any  way  to  counteract  the  reso- 
lutions which  His  Danish  Majesty  might  have  taken,  or  in 
future  might  take,  in  reference  to  the  arrangement  of  the 
succession  of  all  the  lands  now  united  under  His  Danish 
Majesty' to  sceptre,  or  to  the  eventual  organization  of  his 
monarchy.9 

"  In  the  vocabulary  of  the  duke  of  Augustenburg,  it  is, 
of  course,  to  be  presumed  that  the  word  l  family  r  does  not 
include  sons,  since  it  is  just  his  son  who  is  now  revolutionizing 
Holstein.  It  is,  however,  right  to  say,  that  said  son  has 
protested  against  the  above  renunciation ;  but  it  is  also  right 
to  add  that  he  kept  his  protest  to  himself  till  six  years  after 
the  deed  had  been  signed,  and  the  money  paid.  The  protest 
was  issued  on  the  15th  of  January,  1859." 

Thus  far  the  Edinburgh  Review.  Pretty  smart  piece  of 
business.  And  what  did  now  the  perfidious  duke  do  ? 
After  having  pocketed  the  enormous  sum  of  money,  and 
after  having  given  the  above  solemn  and  affecting 
declaration,  he  made  it  his  business  to  travel  round  in 
Germany,  and  by  fulminating  harangues  and  periodicals 
stuffed  with  the  most  stupendous  lies  to  fan  the  flame  of 
rebellion  against  his  fatherland,  that  had  nurtured  him, 


472  HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIA. 

intending  to  grasp  the  very  first  opportunity  to  recom- 
mence his  former  schemes  for  establishing  for  himself 
and  family  an  independent  Sleswick-Holstein  dukedom. 
Such  an  opportunity  offered  itself  when  Frederick  VIL, 
on  the  loth  of  November,  1863,  breathed  his  last. 
Instantly  the  crafty  duke,  in  spite  of  the  money  paid 
him  for  the  cession  of  all  his  claims,  and  in  spite  of  his 
solemn  declaration,  put  in  claims  in  favour  of  his  son 
Frederick — a  worthy  imp  of  a  glorious  father — in  order 
to  dislodge  *  the  new  king,  Christian  IX.,  from  his 
position  as  duke  of  the  dukedoms.  Alas  !  he  was  this 
time  too  successful.  The  horsemen  and  all  the  host  of 
the  Prussians  and  Austrians  rushed  upon  little  Denmark, 
under  pretence  of  vindicating  the  rights  of  the  dukedoms 
against  Danish  oppression — of  vindicating  the  rights  of 
the  German  Confederation  by  incorporating  Sleswick 
(an  entire  Danish  province)  into  said  Confederation,  and 
of  making  the  son  of  the  nefarious  duke  the  duke  of  both 
dukedoms,  but  secretly  intending,  after  the  conquest 
hoped  for,  to  overlook  both  the  old  duke  and  his  son, 
and  the  Germanic  Confederation,  in  the  division  of  the 
spoil.  Hoping  that  also  this  time  no  foreign  aid  would 
be  rendered  to  Denmark,  the  Prussians  and  Austrians, 
confiding  in  the  overwhelming  forces  they  could  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  conflict,  and  in  their  superior  artillery, 
entertained  a  glorious  anticipation  of  a  complete  victory. 
As  the  cause  of  their  attack  upon  Denmark  was  given 
that  the  Danish  Government  had  treated  the  dukedoms 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  473 

as  conquered  provinces — had  forced  the  Danish  lan- 
guage upon  the  southern  part  of  Sleswick,  and  intended 
to  incorporate  Sleswick  into  the  monarchy.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  Prussia  and  Austria  had  no  business  to  inter- 
meddle with  His  Danish  Majesty's  rule  of  his  own 
Danish  province,  Sleswick,  as  little  as  Denmark  has 
any  right  to  interfere  with  the  French  emperor's  rule  'of 
his  province,  Alsace.  To  prevent  a  destructive  war 
from  breaking  out,  the  Danish  Government  argued  long 
calmly  with  them,  and  made  even  great  and  liberal  con- 
cessions ;  but  all  of  no  avail ;  for  as  the  fixed  eye  of 
prejudice  and  malice  can  see  nothing  but  its  own  idea — 
however  contrary  to  truth  that  idea  may  be,  and  how- 
ever clearly  the  actual  truth  may  be  presented  to  the 
view — so  it  was  here.  The  Prussians  and  Austrians 
were  deaf  to  all  sound  reasoning,  marched  legions  upon 
legions  of  troops  into  Holstein,  and  threatened  the 
Danish  province  Sleswick  with  invasion.  The  Danes, 
considering  themselves,  most  outrageously  treated,  and 
always  wont  to  stare  an  enemy  right  in  the  face,  bravely 
to  attack  two,  and  not  yield  to  three,  and  expecting, 
according  to  the  treaties  of  1720  and  1727,  and  the 
London  Protocol  of  1852,  British  and  French  aid, 
rushed  into  the  conflict  with  the  thrilling  excitement 
which  nerves  the  arm  and  steels  the  heart  of  soldiers  and 
seamen  in  the  prospect  of  desolating  contest.  The  Danish 
army  marched  down  to  meet  the  Prussian  and  Austrian 
legions,  and  the  fleet  was  launched  into  the  Baltic,  and 


474  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

the  defence  of  the  Danes  ranges  high,  wrote  the  English 
journalists,  in  the  annals  of  warfare.  On  February  2nd, 
1864,  they  gave  such  evidence  of  old  Scandinavian 
bravery  as  may  be  sought  for  in  vain,  even  in  the  annals 
of  the  Romans  and  Carthagenians ;  the  innumerable 
multitude  of  Prussians  and  Austria ns  stormed,  and 
stormed,  and  stormed,  but  were  each  time  met  with  a 
most  murderous  fire  from  the  Danes — eleven  hundred 
Prussians  and  Austrians  covering  the  battle-field.  But 
now  the  Austrians  and  Prussians  poured  in  like  a  host 
of  locusts,  and  their  artillery  being  much  superior  to 
that  of  the  Danes,  there  was  very  little,  or,  so  to  speak, 
no  prospect  of  success  for  Denmark.  The  enemy 
invaded  Sleswick,  and  the  Danish  General  De  Meza 
gave  up  his  strong  position  at  the  famous  Dannevirke, 
of  which  the  enemy  took  possession.  For  this  he  was 
highly  blamed,  and  was  superseded  by  General  Gerlach. 
Everything  had  come  to  sad  extremities.  Nevertheless 
the  Danes  would  not  yet  yield,  but  retreated  in  good 
order,  in  the  heart  of  the  winter,  over  the  desolate  heath 
of  Sleswick,  which  for  miles  presents  a  desert  of  furze, 
fern,  and  stunted  heath,  fighting  all  the  time  bravely 
against  vastly  superior  numbers,  and  hoping  confidently, 
when  worst  came  to  worst,  for  British  aid.  But,  alas ! 
they  were  greatly  and  bitterly  disappointed.  Certainly, 
the  whole  British  nation  was  deeply  interested  in  the 
fate  of  their  ancient  kinsmen ;  the  learned  Earl  of  Derby 
opened  his  mouth  boldly  in  favour  of  Denmark ;   the 


HISTORY   OF  SCANDINAVIA.  475 

noble  Marquis  of  Clanricarde  started  a  subscription  m 
assistance  of  the  wounded  Danes  and  their  families ; 
but  the  Government  was  but  a  quiet  beholder  of  the 
dreadful  tragedy.  Lord  Russell  held  out  the  most 
glorious  promises — issued  threatening  notes  against 
Germany :  the  English  papers  guided  thereby  wrote  : 
"  Take  heed  to  yourselves  ;  believe,  we  are  in  earnest," 
and  so  forth.  However,  nothing  was  done  for  redressing 
the  enormous  wrongs  inflicted  upon  little  Denmark.  A 
destructive  doom  seemed  to  hang  over  her.  Never- 
theless, she  was  not  dispirited,  but  kept  on  fighting 
valiantly  by  land  and  by  sea,  and  in  the  month  of  May 
the  Danish  fleet  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  the 
Austrian  fleet  at  Heligoland.  But  this  was  but  a  single 
shooting  star  on  the  beclouded  firmament.  Denmark 
could  not  abide  the  unequal  contest.  She  was  left  alone 
— was  overpowered  by  numbers,  brutally  treated,  and 
had  to  yield.  The  Prussians  went  even  so  far  as  to 
invade  the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  where  they  committed 
such  acts  of  merciless  ravage  and  depredation,  unheard 
of  even  in  the  time  of  an  Alaric  and  Tamerlane.  How- 
ever, I  shall  pass  over  the  details  of  the  ruthless  havoc 
they  perpetrated — a  havoc  that  continued  until  the 
peace  of  October  30th,  1864,  was  concluded,  in  which 
Denmark  lost  the  fertile  Sleswick,  with  its  adjacent 
islands,  which  had  belonged  to  her  for  centuries,  and 
Holstein  also,  which  was  guaranteed  her  in  the  London 
Protocol  of  1852.  Treaties  and  guarantees  seem  now- 
a-days  to  be  just  as  evanescent  as  the  favour  of  princes. 


476  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

The  peace  document,  dictated  by  Prussia  and  Austria, 
who  soon,  it  is  to  be  Jioped,  will  fight  amongst  them- 
selves over  their  ill-gotten  and  nefarious  booty,  has  the 
blasphemous  superscription — "  In  the  name  of  the  holy 
and  invisible  Trinity." 

And,  indeed,  scarcely  two  years  had  elapsed,  when 
Austria  and  Prussia,  who  could  not  agree  amongst 
themselves  as  to  the  division  of  the  spoil,  were  waging 
a  war  of  awful  carnage.  The  Austrians  were  worsted 
in  almost  every  engagement,  the  battle  at  Sadowa  sum- 
ming up  the  bloody  tragedy.  The  Austrians  had  to 
submit  to  superior  numbers  and  superior  tactics,  and 
to  surrender  the  disputed  and  ill-starred  duchies  to 
Prussia.  However,  through  the  influence  and  media- 
tion of  Louis  Napoleon,  Paragraph  3,  in  the  prelimi- 
nary articles  to  the  peace-treaty,  drawn  up  in  July, 
1866,  at  Nicolsburgh,  Moravia,  came  to  read  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  Emperor  of  Austria  resigns  to  the  King 
of  Prussia  all  the  claims  to  the  duchies,  Slesvic  and 
Holstein,  which  he  acquired  by  the  Peace  of  Vienna, 
October  30, 1864 ;  yet  with  this  proviso,  that  the  north- 
ern Danish-speaking  districts  of  Slesvic  shall  be  given 
up  to  Denmark,  if  the  inhabitants  of  said  districts,  by 
free  suffrage,  indicate  it  to  be  their  wish  to  be  united 
to  Denmark."  In  the  final  peace-document  at  Prague, 
Bohemia,  August  25, 1866,  Prussia  would  fain  have  ex- 
empted herself  and  skulked  away  from  this  inconveni- 
ent Paragraph  3,  but  Napoleon  would  not  yield,  and 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  477 

Paragraph  3  was  accordingly  verbatim  entered  into  the 
peace-document  at  Prague  as  Paragraph  5.  Eight  years 
have  now  passed  away  since  the  peace  of  Prague  was 
concluded,  but  the  negotiations  between  Denmark  and 
Prussia,  concerning  the  ratification  of  Paragraph  5  of 
the  Treaty  of  Prague,  have  hitherto  proved  abortive, 
Bismarck,  the  well-known  great  statesman,  and  equally 
well-known  artful  plotter,  and,  as  we  know,  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany  in  re,  evading  the  question  all  the 
time  and  seeking  miserable  shifts  and  subterfuges  to 
avoid  the  force  of  that,  for  Denmark,  important  Para- 
graph 5. 

Little  Denmark  is  deeply  agonizing ;  yet  its  root  is 
still  whole  and  sound,  and  its  hopes  for  brighter  days  it 
will  not — it  cannot — forego.  "  On  the  very  verge  of 
ruin,"  said  once  the  great  statesman  Talleyrand,  "  the 
Almighty  has  always  a  miracle  in  His  pocket  to  save 
Denmark."  Acquiescing  in  this  conviction,  I  look 
safely  forward  for  the  fate  of  Denmark,  my  native 
country,  where  my  cradle  was  rocked,  and  where  I 
received  blessings  upon  blessings ;  and^  the  words  by 
which  the  Norwegian  orator  and  divine,  "W.  H.  Wexels, 
concluded  a  speech  he  delivered  on  the  subject  of  the 
deeply-wronged  Denmark,  I  shall  here  allow  myself  to 
make  mine  :  "  Live  the  warrior  Danes  ;  live  the  gifted 
and  warm-hearted  people  of  the  champaign  country ; 
live  the  cradle  of  all  lofty  Skaldic  literature,  gently 
wafted  over  from  the  Danish  meadows  to  rocky  Nor- 


478  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

way  and  Scotland ;  live  it  in  spite  of  all  direful  Ger- 
man prophecies  of  destruction  and  annihilation  ! " 

But  before  concluding,  it  will  not  be  out  of  place,  I 
think,  to  give  some  outlines  of  the  history  of  Iceland, 
this  remarkable  volcanic  island  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and 
at  the  same  time  of  the  millennial  celebration  which 
took  place  there  in  1874,  and  which  created  so  much  in- 
terest and  sensation  in  the  United  States,  yea,  through- 
out all  the  civilized  world. 

In  the  year  863  a.  d.,  the  famous  Harold  Jlairfair, 
of  whom  mention  has  been  made  on  p.  55,  ascended 
the  Norwegian  throne.  Before  his  time  Norway  was 
divided  into  thirty-one  small  States,  against  whose  petty 
kings  he  immediately  commenced  waging  war,  till  they 
all  were  subdued.  But  the  ambition  of  that  warlike 
prince  gave  birth  to  a  conquest  of  a  more  peaceable 
kind,  which,  though  almost  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the 
world,  had,  however,  very  interesting  consequences  in 
the  history  of  the  North.  For,  not  satisfied  with  hav- 
ing subdued  the  little  tyrants,  who  had  for  a  long  time 
weakened  Norway,  he  was  eager  of  absolute  and  des- 
potic authority  over  his  subjects.  The  greater  part  of 
the  Norwegian  peers,  perceiving  that  it  was  in  vain  to 
oppose  their  strength  to  his,  determined  to  abandon  a 
country  where  they  were  obliged  to  live  depressed  and 
obscure.  It  fortunately  happened,  that  at  this  period 
Iceland  began  to  be  known.  Some  ancient  Icelandic 
documents  inform    us  that  the  first  Northman    who 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  479 

landed  on  the  shores  of  that  island  was  JFaddod,  a 
celebrated  sea-rover,  who  in  the  year  859  entered  one  of 
the  friths  and  ascended  a  high  mountain,  but  discover- 
ing no  traces  of  the  country  being  inhabited,  set  sail 
again,  after  giving  it  the  name  of  Snaeland  (Snow- 
land).  Four  years  afterwards,  863,  Gardar,  a  Dane, 
but  of  Swedish  extraction,  was  driven  by  a  storm  to 
Iceland,  which  by  circumnavigation  he  ascertained  to 
be  an  island,  and  called  it  Gardarsholm  (Gardar's  isle). 
The  favorable  account  he  gave  of  it  on  his  return  hav- 
ing excited  the  spirit  of  adventure  amongst  the  North- 
men, Flohl,  another  famous  sea-rover,  went  out  with 
the  intention  of  settling  there,  but  all  the  cattle  and 
sheep  he  had  taken  with  him  having  perished  during 
the  Winter,  and  the  Spring  being  unusually  cold,  and 
the  bays  and  estuaries  covered  with  ice,  he  returned  in 
the  Summer  to  Norway,  and  bestowed  the  name  of 
Island  (Iceland)  on  the  island,  in  which  he  had  passed 
such  a  gloomy  season,  and  which  he  declared  to  be  un- 
inhabitable either  for  man  or  beast. 

But  in  the  year  870,  Ingolf,  a  Norwegian  chieftain, 
wintered  in  Iceland,  and  was  so  pleased  with  the  wild 
and  picturesque  appearance  of  the  country,  that  on  his 
return  to  Norway,  he  being  discontented,  like  the  other 
chieftains,  with  the  king,  Harold  Hairfair's  despotism, 
resolved  to  emigrate  thither.  It  is,  however,  said,  that 
the  fear  of  being  punished  for  a  murder  he  had  com- 
mitted, was,  equally  with  the  tyranny  of  the  king,  a 


480  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

motive  for  his  flight ;  but  this  latter  inducement  was 
certainly  that  which  engaged  a  multitude  of  noble  fami- 
lies in'iNorway  to  join  him.  These  illustrious  fugitives 
having  embarked,  Ingolf,  whom  they  had  chosen  for 
their  leader,  conducted  them  in  the  year  874  to  Iceland, 
and  from  this  year  its  discovery  and  colonization  are 
dated.  As  soon  as  they  discovered  it  at  a  distance, 
Ingolf,  according  to  an  ancient  and  superstitious  cus- 
tom, threw  the  sacred  columns  of  his  temple  into  the 
sea,  determining  by  the  direction  of  this  floating  guide, 
to  land  where  the  gods  should  seem  to  point  out.  But 
the  waves  carrying  the  floating  guide  out  of  sight,  they 
were  obliged  to  disembark  in  a  gulf  towards  the  south 
part  of  the  island,  which  still  bears  Ingolfs  name. 
They  found  the  island  uninhabited,  and  covered  with 
dense  forests  of  birch-trees,  through  which  they  could 
not  penetrate  but  by  cutting  their  way  before  them. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  but  certainly  there  are  now  no  for- 
ests in  Iceland,  nor  any  birch-trees,  except  here  and 
there  a  few  short  and  slender  shrubs.  Nevertheless, 
the  trees,  which  are  still  found  buried  in  the  ground, 
and  frequently  among  the  rocks,  should  forbid  us  too 
hastily  to  reject  the  evidence  of  the  ancient  chronicles, 
when  they  describe  the  country  as  different  from  what 
it  is  at  present.  See  "  Torfaei  Historia  ISTorwegica." 
His  words  are  these :  "  Should  any  one  object,  that 
modern  Iceland  does  not  correspond  with  the  ancient 
descriptions  of  it,  it  may  be  justly  answered,  that  this 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  4:81 

island  has  greatly  degenerated.  This  I  can  affirm, 
from  what  I  have  been  an  eye-witness  of  myself."  In- 
deed, none  but  Northmen,  inured  from  infancy  to  a 
rude  climate  and  the  perils  of  a  sea-faring  life,  would 
have  thought  of  settling  in  such  a  country,  which  is 
thus  described  by  a  modern  English  writer,  Henderson? 
in  his  work,  entitled  u  Journal  of  a  Residence  in  Ice- 
land in  1814"  :  "  In  no  quarter  of  the  globe  do  we  find 
crowded  within  the  same  extent  of  surface  such  a  num- 
ber of  ignivomous  mountains,  so  many  boiling  springs, 
or  such  immense  tracts  of  lava,  as  here  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  traveler.  The  general  aspect  of  the  coun- 
try," thus  Henderson  continues,  "  is  the  most  rugged 
and  dreary  imaginable.  Everywhere  appear  marks  of 
confusion  and  devastation.  There  are  no  less  than 
thirty  volcanoes  in  the  island,  the  Hekla  being  the 
principal  one,  from  which  streams  of  melted  substances 
have  been  poured  forth  over  the  surrounding  regions. 
Tracts  of  lava  traverse  the  island  in  every  direction ; 
the  lavas  around  Hekla  are  well  known,  and  the  whole 
plain  between  that  and  the  sea  is  filled  with  the  same 
substance.  Another  proof  of  the  universality  of  vol- 
canic agency,  and  of  the  continued  existence  of  subter- 
raneous fires  in  Iceland,  is  the  multiplicity  of  hot 
springs,  of  which  the  Geyser  is  the  largest.  Many  of 
these  throw  up  large  columns  of  boiling  water  to  an 
almost  incredible  height,  and  present  to  the  eye  some 
of  the  grandest  scenes  to  be  met  with  on  the  face  of 


482  HISTORY   OF    SCAXDINAYIA. 

the  globe.  Numerous  ridges  of  rugged  and  irregular 
mountains  stretch  across  the  interior.  Between  these 
ridges,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  coast,  are  rich  and  beauti- 
ful valleys,  in  which  the  inhabitants  have  erected  their 
dwellings,  and  many  of  the  low  mountains  are  covered 
with  grass,  which  affords  Summer  pasturage  to  the  cat- 
tle. But  the  whole  of  the  interior,  as  far  as  it  has 
been  explored,  consists  of  a  vast,  inhospitable  desert, 
with  here  and  there  a  small  spot  scantily  covered  with 
vegetation." 

Such  was  the  country  that  afforded  the  discontented 
Norwegian  chieftains  a  secure  retreat  from  what  they 
termed  the  tyranny  of  Harold  Hairfair.  The  coloniza- 
tion commenced  in  the  year  874,  and  in  little  more 
than  half  a  century  the  whole  coast  of  the  island  had 
been  taken  possession  of.  When  a  chieftain  had  taken 
possession  of  a  district,  he  allotted  to  each  of  the  free- 
men who  accompanied  him,  a  certain  portion  of  land, 
erected  a  temple,  and  became  the  chief,  the  pontiff 
(sacerdotal  magistrate),  and  the  judge  of  his  district. 
Such  a  chieftain  was  called  a  Godi,  and  all  to  whom 
he  had  allotted  land,  were  bound  to  accompany  him  on 
his  journeys,  and  to  pay  a  tax  for  the  support  of  the 
temple ;  and  at  the  public  assemblies  these  chieftains 
met  with  a  great  number  of  armed  followers  of  free- 
men. The  whole  frame  of  society  in  Iceland  was,  in 
fact,  aristocratic.  The  law  recognized  only  four  classes, 
as  in  Norway :  Freemen,  Unfree,  Freedmen  and  Thralls ; 


HISTOEY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  483 

but  amongst  the  Freemen  themselves  a  distinction  was 
made  between  the  pontiff-chieftains  and  the  wealthy 
landed  proprietors,  called  Stormen  (great  men)  or 
Magnates,  and  a  still  greater  distinction  between  these 
and  the  less  wealthy  freeholders. 

These  independent  chieftains,  thus  located  on  the 
coasts  of  Iceland,  without  any  general  law  or  central 
authority  to  control  their  actions,  were  constantly  em- 
broiled in  petty  quarrels  and  strifes.  The  evil  conse- 
quences resulting  from  this  became  at  length  so  great, 
that  in  the  year  925,  Ulfliot  was  sent  to  Norway  to 
confer  with  Thorleif  the  Wise,  renowned  for  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  parent  country,  in 
order  to  prepare  himself  for  the  duties  of  a  legislator 
for  Iceland.  After  three  years  absence,  Ulfliot,  called 
the  Islandic  Solon,  returned,  and  convoked  a  general 
assembly,  in  which  all  his  proposed  laws  were  adopted, 
and  a  Republican  form  of  government  constituted,  and 
from  this  year,  928,  until  the  year  1262,  when  Iceland 
was  subdued  by  the  Norwegian  king,  Hakon  Hakon- 
son,  or  Hakon  IV.,  it  was  a  Republic,  a  Commonwealth, 
during  which  this  remote  island  was  full  of  public- 
spirited  men,  and  the  old  Northern  language  preserved 
unchanged  for  centuries,  and  Iceland  became  the  cradle 
of  a  Northern  historical  literature  of  immense  value. 

The  island  was,  during  the  Commonwealth,  divided 
into  four  provinces  or  quarters,  and  each  quarter  into 
three  districts.     A  few  years  later,  however,  one  of  the 


484:  HISTORY    OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

districts  was  divided  for  the  convenience  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, thus  making,  in  all,  thirteen  districts,  which  were 
sub-divided  into  parishes.  Each  of  the  districts  had  its 
temple  (church)  and  its  Thing  (court),  over  which  three 
pontiff-chieftains  presided,  who  were  to  be  chosen  from 
amongst  those  the  most  distinguished  for  their  wisdom 
and  love  of  justice.  These  chieftains  were  at  first  elect- 
ed, but  afterwards  the  dignity  became  hereditary.  A 
district  Thing  was  held  annually  in  the  Spring,  and  at- 
tended by  all  the  freemen  of  the  district.  The  Things 
were  held  in  the  open  air,  serving  both  for  the  discus- 
sion of  public  affairs  and  for  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice. For  the  latter  purpose  a  circle,  called  the  Doom- 
ring,  was  formed  with  hazel-twigs.  Within  this  circle 
the  judges  sat,  and  in  the  middle  stood  a  huge  stone 
with  a  sharp  ridge,  on  which  the  backs  of  criminals 
condemned  to  death  were  broken.  Each  of  the  three 
pontiff-chieftains  summoned  twelve  doomsmen  to  sit 
with  him  within  the  forensic  circle,  which  thus  formed 
a  court  of  justice,  consisting  of  three  judges  and  thirty- 
six  doomsmen  or  jurymen.  And  here  we  have  the 
trial  by  jury,  for  which  (as  it  is  mentioned  on  p.  95) 
England  and  the  United  States  are  more  indebted  to 
Scandinavia  and  Iceland,  than  to  their  Saxon  ancestors. 
Yet,  all  those  thirteen  districts  were  united  in  the 
Representative  Assembly  of  the  Althing  (the  Supreme 
Court),  which  held  its  sessions  annually  in  Summer  in 
the  Thingvalla,  near  Rejkiavik,  the  capital  of  the  is- 


HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA.  485 

land.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  Supreme  Magistrate 
of  the  Republic,  called  the  Logrogumadr,  i.  e.,  laws'- 
narrations'-man,  or  in  better  English,  the  promulgator 
of  the  law,  who  was  elected  for  life  by  the  free  suffrage 
of  his  fellow-citizens.  Ulfliot,  who  had  been  so  instru- 
mental in  founding  the  Republic,  was  made  its  first 
President  by  the  same  National  Assembly  that  adopted 
his  legislation.  The  office  was,  of  course,  regarded  as 
the  highest  dignity  in  the  State,  and  from  the  year 
928,  when  the  Republic  was  constituted,  until  its  down- 
fall in  1262,  thirty-nine  Presidents  governed  this  fa- 
mous Republic. 

The  Althing,  however,  was  no  court  of  appeal,  for 
it  was  optional  with  parties  to  bring  their  suits  either 
before  the  Thing  of  their  district,  or  before  the  Althing, 
and  when  judgment  had  been  pronounced  at  the  district 
Thing,  there  was  no  appeal  to  a  superior  tribunal.  Yet, 
the  necessity  of  having  a  court  of  appeal  was  soon  felt, 
and  already  in  the  year  1004  such  an  one  was  estab- 
lished, called  the  FiftK  Court,  which  could  annul  the 
decision  of  the  other  courts  on  the  ground  of  infor- 
mality, false  evidence,  and  subornation  of  witnesses. 
Christianity  was  embraced  by  the  Icelanders  at  the 
Althing,  in  the  year  1000 ;  but  it  was  stipulated  that 
the  former  religion  should  be  tolerated,  and  Chris- 
tianity did  not  produce  any  alteration  in  the  civil  gov- 
ernment of  the  Commonwealth.  The  punishment  of 
death  was  only  inflieted  for  witch-craft  and  magic.  The 


486  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

punishment  for  other  crimes  were  exclusion  from  so- 
ciety and  exile.  For  graver  crimes,  such  as  homicide 
and  arson,  the  punishment  was  twenty  years  exile. 
During  the  period  of  a  person's  banishment,  he  was, 
in  the  most  rigorous  acceptation  of  the  term,  an  out- 
lawed man.  A  prize  was  set  on  his  head,  and  he  might 
be  killed  with  impunity,  his  property  was  confiscated, 
a  portion,  however,  being  reserved  for  the  maintenance 
of  his  family,  and  the  rest  equally  divided  between  the 
accuser  and  the  Commonwealth. 

From  this  brief  sketch  of  the  civil  institutions  of 
the  Icelanders,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  form  of  govern- 
ment was  strictly  aristocratic,  the  administration  of 
affairs  being,  in  a  great  measure,  in  the  hands  of  he- 
reditary pontiff-chieftains.  But  concerning  the  laws  by 
which  the  Icelanders  were  ruled,  it  is  impossible  to 
ascertain  what  were  the  precise  enactments  which  Ul- 
fliot,  the  founder  of  the  Icelandic  Republic,  submitted 
to  the  approval  of  his  countrymen ;  for  they  were 
handed  down  by  oral  tradition  for  nearly  two  centu- 
ries, during  which  period  the  President  of  the  Repub- 
lic had  the  very  appropriate  title  of  Law-saying-man  ; 
for  he  had  to  recite  and  expound  the  laws  to  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  at  every  Althing.  But  the  necessity 
of  having  a  written  code  was  deeply  felt,  and  in  the 
year  1117,  the  laws  and  judicial  decisions  were  commit- 
ted to  writing,  and  after  being  thoroughly  revised  by 
the  ablest  jurists,  they  were  publicly  discussed  at  th^ 


HISTORY    OF   SCANDINAVIA.  487 

Althing,  when  those  that  had  been  approved  of  by  a 
majority  of  the  Thingsmen,  were  digested  into  a  regu- 
lar code  or  collections  of  laws,  into  which  subsequent 
laws  and  judicial  decisions  were  from  time  to  time 
incorporated,  and  which  remained  in  force  until  the 
downfall  of  the  Republic.  This  code  was  called  The 
Gragas*  and  is,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
ancient  documents  of  the  kind  in  existence.  Every 
judicial  proceeding  has  its  prescribed  form,  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  indictment  and  defence  are  to  be 
conducted,  witnesses  summoned,  evidence  given,  and 
verdict  pronounced,  are  detailed  with  the  greatest  mi- 
nuteness ;  and  it  is  universally  taken  for  granted,  that 
in  no  code  of  the  Middle  Ages  do  we  find  such  rigor- 
ous enactments  for  the  protection  of  person  and  prop- 
erty, nor  such  detailed  police  regulations  as  in  this  Ice- 
landic code.  But  when  the  Icelanders,  in  1262,  had  to 
acknowledge  allegiance  to  the  Norwegian  king,  Hakon 
IV.,  and  the  large  island  thus  ceased  to  exist  as  a  repub- 
lic, then  ceased,  also,  publicity  in  the  administration  of 
affairs,  the  interest  for  the  celebrated  code  ceased,  be- 
cause it  was  set  out  of  force,  and  the  Icelanders'  deeply- 
rooted  love  for  their  historical  and  romantic  Sagas 
ceased  also,  at  least  in  a  great  measure,  because  after 
the  fall  of  their  glorious  Commonwealth,  in  which  all 


*  Some  say  that  this  name  was  given  the  code  because  grey  goose-quills  were 
generally  used  for  writing  Icelandic  manuscripts  ;  others,  because  the  manuscript 
copy  of  this  code  was  bound  in  grey  goose-skin. 


488  HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

their  interest  had  been  absorbed,  they  felt  weary  and 
languid.  A  little  more  than  a  century  after — in  1380 
— Iceland  fell,  together  with  Norway,  to  Denmark  ; 
when  Olaf  V.,  elected  King  of  Denmark,  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  Hakon  VI.,  became  King  of  Nor- 
way also,  and  Iceland  has  since  the  year  1380,  up  to 
this  very  day,  been  subject  to  the  Danish  crown. 

But,  although  the  extinction  of  the  Republic  lessened 
the  interest  for  poetry  and  history,  the  inhabitants  of 
that  remarkable  island  had  had  from  the  earliest  times 
too  deeply-rooted  a  fondness  for  poetry  and  history  to 
lose  it  altogether,  and  they  continued,  therefore,  to  keep 
up  an  intercourse  with  the  other  people  of  the  North, 
that  they  from  them  might  learn  whatever  passed 
abroad.  Only  they  were  not  so  productive  among 
themselves  as  before  the  downfall  of  their  Common- 
wealth. However,  the  odes  of  their  ancestral  Skalds 
(poets)  were  continually  in  everybody's  mouth,  and 
the  Icelanders  even  at  the  present  day  exhibit  a  lively 
interest  for  the  ancient  manuscripts  of  which  the  island 
abounds,  and  which  are  often  to  be  found  even  in  the 
poorest  huts. 

With  the  introduction  of  the  Reformation,  1536,  a  new 
era  began — that  of  modern  Icelandic  literature — which 
has  produced  several  writers  of  considerable  eminence. 
John  Vidalin,  Bishop  of  Skalholt,  1720,  who  is  called 
the  Icelandic  Cicero,  his  sermons  being,  it  is  said,  as 
jremarkable  for  their  elegance  of  diction,  as  they  are 


HISTORY   OF    SCAXLINAVIA.  489 

for  their  Christian  piety.  And  in  the  present  century 
Sigurd  Petursson  and  John  Thorlakson  have  acquired 
great  celebrity  as  poets  of  no  ordinary  talents ;  the 
former  for  original  poetry,  and  the  latter  for  having 
dressed  in  an  English  garment  Klopstock's  "  Messiah," 
and  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost."  In  Greek  and  Latin 
the  Icelanders  have  always  excelled.  Thus,  the  writer 
of  this  work  distinctly  remembers,  when  he  was  ma- 
triculated at  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  and  had  to 
pass  the  so-called  "  Exam  en  Artium,"  that  four  Ice- 
landers from  the  Latin  school  at  Iceland,  who  presented 
themselves  for  passing  this  Examen  Artium,  were  far 
superior  to  all  of  us  in  the  classical  studies. 

But  the  millennial  festival  of  Ingolfs  landing,  874, 
when  a  thousand  years  ago,  he  with  his  Norwegian 
fugitives  fled  from  Europe,  and  landed  in  Iceland,  has 
created  such  an  interest,  yea,  even  sensation,  that  some 
details  will  scarcely  be  unwelcome.  Little  Kejkiavik, 
the  capital,  was  in  a  state  of  great  excitement  and 
greedy  expectation.  Flags  floated  from  all  the  larger 
buildings,  and  a  crimson  canopy  was  prepared  for  the 
royal  landing.  For  His  Danish  Majesty,  King  Chris- 
tian the  Ninth,  had  promised  to  honor  the  millennial 
festival  with  his  regal  presence,  and,  at  the  same  time 
to  bring  with  him  a  new  Constitution  for  Iceland,  which 
he  did,  and  which  went  into  force  August  1,  1874.  On 
his  landing,  His  Majesty  was  given  the  usual  cannon 
salutation,  and  received  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  island, 


490  HISTOKY   OF   SCANDINAVIA. 

the  Governor,  the  Bishop,  the  Hector  of  the  Latin 
School  at  Eejkiavik,  and  the  Sheriff.  However,  the 
most  noteworthy  concerning  Christian  the  Ninth's  pres- 
ence in  Iceland  is,  next  to  the  Constitution  he  brought 
with  him,  that  he  is  the  first  crowned  head  that  ever 
visited  this  remote  island.  After  a  short  stay  at  Eej- 
kiavik, the  king  went  to  Thingvalla,  where,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  ancient  times  the  Althing  (the  Supreme  Court) 
was  held,  and  where  it  still  holds  its  sessions.  Here 
he  was  bid  welcome  by  a  song  in  the  Icelandic  lan- 
guage, composed  by  the  present  poet  of  Iceland, 
Mathias  Jochumson,  which  Bayard  Taylor,  the  famous 
American  traveler  and  gifted  poet,  has  thus  translated : 

i. 
With  strong  foot  tread  the  holy  ground, 
Our  snow-land's  King,  the  lofty-hearted, 
Who  from  thy  royal  home  hast  parted 
To  greet  these  hills  that  guard  us  round  ! 
Our  freedom's  scroll  thy  hand  has  lent  us, 
The  first  of  kings  whom  God  hath  sent  us, 
Hail !  welcome  to  our  country's  heart ! 

II. 
Land's-Father,  here  the  Law-Mount  view  ! 
Behold  God's  works  in  all  their  vastness ! 
Where  saw'st  thou  Freedom's  fairer  fastness 
With  fire-heaved  ramparts,  waters  blue? 
Here  sprang  the  Sagas  of  our  splendor, 
Here  every  Iceland  heart  is  tender, 
God  built  this  altar  for  His  flock  ! 

in. 
Here,  as  in  thousand  years  of  old, 

The  same  words  sound,  a  voice  unended, 
As  when  their  life  and  law  defended 
The  spearmen  with  their  shields  of  gold : 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  491 

The  same  land  yet  the  same  speech  giveth, 
The  ancient  soul  of  Freedom  liveth, 
And  hither,  King,  we  welcome  thee  ! 

rv. 

But  now  are  past  a  thousand  years, 

As  in  the  people's  memory  hoarded, 

And  in  God's  volume  stand  recorded 
Their  strife  and  trial,  woes  and  fears ; 

Now  let  the  hope  of  better  ages 

Be  what  thy  presence,  King  !  presages, — 
Now  let  the  prosperous  time  be  sure  ! 

V. 

Our  land  to  thee  her  thanks  shall  yield, 
A  thousand  years  thy  name  be  chanted, 
Here  where  the  Hill  of  Law  is  planted, 

'Twixt  fiery  fount  and  lava-field  : 
We  pray,  All -Father,  our  dependence, 
To  bless  thee  and  thy  far  descendants, 

And  those  they  rule,  a  thousand  years  ! 

This  beautiful  song  the  king  received  with  visible 
joy,  as  also  with  emotion  of  feelings,  and  Bayard  Tay- 
lor, who,  together  with  two  other  Americans,  Cyrus  W. 
Field,  of  submarine  telegraph  notoriety,  and  Dr  Hayes 
was  present  at  this  millennial  festival,  writes,  that  the 
king's  mild,  frank,  and  handsome  face  attracted  the 
people.  He  paid  a  visit  to  old  Bjarne  Thorsteinson 
(father  of  the  present  Sheriff  of  Iceland),  who  is  ninety- 
four  years  old,  and  has  long  been  blind.  Entering  un- 
announced, His  Majesty  greeted  the  old  man,  taking  his 
hand :  "  Who  are  you  \ "  said  the  latter.  "  I  don't 
know  you  ;  what  is  your  name  ? "  "I  am  called  Chris- 
tian the  Ninth,"  said  the  king.     "  "Well,  then,"  the  old 


492  HISTORY   OF    SCANDINAVIA. 

man  remarked,  "  if  you  take  a  blind  man  by  surprise, 
king,  you  must  expect  to  bear  sucb  questions." 

The  next  day,  August  2d,  was  the  day  for  the  millen- 
nial, celebration.  The  programme  for  the  day,  writes 
Bayard  Taylor,  consisted  of  commemorative  services  in 
the  Cathedral,  where  the  Bishop  of  the  island  preached, 
of  a  banquet  in  the  Hall  of  the  College,  and  of  a  popu- 
lar festival  a  mile  from  the  town,  where  there  was 
dancing  and  great  flying  fires,  and  where  the  king  and 
Prince  Waldelnar,  his  youngest  son,  walked  around 
without  any  ceremony,  exchanging  a  few  words  with 
each  person  as  they  passed.  The  sumptuous  dinner 
which  was  given,  was  such,  writes  Bayard  Taylor,  as 
Iceland  could  scarcely  furnish ;  and,  in  fact,  almost 
every  dish  came  in  cans  from  Copenhagen.  The 
service  of  silver,  the  porcelain,  and  the  wine-glasses  were 
also  Danish.  The  king  finally  rose,  and  briefly  expressed 
his  thanks  for  the  kind  reception  he  had  received,  and 
hoped  that  the  Constitution  he  had  brought  with  him 
would  contribute  to  the  prosperity  of  the  island,  and 
closed  with  the  toast :  "  Long  live  old  Iceland !"  where- 
upon the  full  force  of  the  band  struck  in  with  the  loud 
cheers  that  followed,  and  shores  and  harbor  rang  with 
the  thunder  of  cannon,  and  all  the  inhabitants  knew 
that  the  king  had  drunk  to  the  weal  of  Iceland. 

The  Constitution  which  the  king  brought  with  him 
is  mainly  due  to  the  persistent  urgency  and  representa- 
tions at  Copenhagen  of  John  Sigurdson,  a  public-spirit- 


HISTORY   OF   SCANDINAVIA.  4:93 

ed  man,  and  dear  to  all  the  people  of  Iceland.  That 
this  document  was  saluted  with  universal  joy,  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  since  it  cannot  be  denied  that  al- 
most up  to  this  very  day  Iceland  has  been,  at  least  to 
some  extent,  step-motherly  treated  and  slighted  by  the 
Danish  government,  especially  since  the  year  1660, 
when  Denmark  became  an  absolute  monarchy,  and 
since  which  time  the  Icelanders  virtually  lost  every 
vestige  of  their  ancient  independence. 

Nevertheless,  the  Icelanders  have  always  felt  happy 
and  gleeful  among  themselves  in  their  quiet  domestic 
life  and  patriarchal  simplicity,  priding  themselves  in 
their  legendary  jokes,  in  their  strong  local  peculiarities, 
in  their  home-bred  feelings,  in  their  honest  fireside  de- 
lights ;  happy  in  dwelling  on  their  old  and  glorious 
Sagas,  and  on  the  ancient  Skalds,  who  wandered  from 
house  to  house  singing  the  chronicles  of  their  ances- 
tors ;  happy  in  playing  chess,  their  favorite  game, 
which  has  been  known  to  the  Icelanders  as  long  as 
this  ingenious  game  has  been  known  to  the  world. 
And  even  at  the  present  day  an  Icelander,  if  it  in  any 
way  be  possible,  is  sure  to  return  and  spend  his  old  age 
amidst  the  volcanic  fires  and  eternal  snow-storms  of  his 
own  dear  island ;  and  when  an  Icelander  has  visited 
more  genial  climes,  he  exclaims,  when  he  returns  and 
views  the  bleak  and  dreary  scenery  around  him,  "After 
aU,  Icelcmd  is  the  lest  land  that  the  sun  shines  upon  !  " 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


»JW64RR 


REC'D  LD 


JUN30'64-5PM 


9NM*64UI 


-fcee^a-ED 


-NOV  9    '64-kjPW 


^^*- 


-**£ 


ov-° 


"ST5 


J&k 


^w 


-AWti-9-fflf- 


"1 


LD  21A-60m-4,'64 
(E4555sl0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


'=•"' y  ^ 


2<T0/3<T  4£ 

$61 


♦  **    ■»  * 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


